Jojo Riñoza/BenarNews
The Philippines’ gross domestic product shrank by 4.2 percent in the first three months of 2021 to extend a COVID-19-related recession to five quarters, government officials who oversee the economy said Tuesday.
Their latest report on the economic outlook came the same day the Philippine health department announced that two Filipinos had tested positive for a highly infectious coronavirus variant, which was first detected in India, although the pair had no history of recent travel to that country.
“It has been 15 months since COVID-19 hit us. Throughout this unprecedented crisis, the government’s priority has been the total health and welfare of the people,” Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Budget and Management Secretary Wendel Avisado said in a joint statement.
Published May 6, 2021, 10:58 AM
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) raised the need to urgently augment the local pork supply through importation, noting that the meat remained as the top contributor to inflation last month.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said the temporary reduction of pork tariffs and the increase of its minimum access volume (MAV) will immediately curb the rising pork inflation for the benefit of some 100 million Filipinos.
Socio Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua (FACEBOOK/ MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
“Meat has been persistently the top contributor to inflation this year, hence we urgently need to temporarily augment our pork supply through importation. Retaining the status quo will cause 100 million Filipinos to suffer longer from high food prices,” Chua said in a statement.
Published May 6, 2021, 12:08 AM
At a job summit convened by the task group of the National Economic Recovery Strategy held last Labor Day, the country’s top economic managers rallied business, industry and civil society leaders in adopting a whole-of-society approach to economic recovery.
Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua pointed out that the government has allocated P2.5 trillion, or 14 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP); of this amount P2 trillion will come from the 2021 General Appropriations Act or national budget approved by Congress.
Additionally, the government is spending P478 billion in fiscal measures this year including: P317 billion from the Bayanihan to Recover as One (Bayanihan 2); P23 billion Social Amelioration Program 2 for the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal or the NCR Plus; and P138 billion tax breaks to all enterprises under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE)
Dr. Jun Ynares
As we go to press, President Duterte and the Cabinet are set to meet and discuss proposals from the country’s economic managers to put the entire country under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) status starting the first of March this year.
This follows days of intense debate played out in media. It was further fueled by an announcement by the Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Diseases (IATF) that it was set to allow movie houses to open for business – a move strongly opposed by a number of local government officials including some mayors of Metro Manila.