PHL economy in technical recession

A bird’s eye view of a building under construction in Manila on November 17, 2016.
/ AFP / Ted Aljibe/

(Eagle News) — The Philippine economy contracted by a record-16.5 percent in the second quarter, from April to June, officially plunging the country into a technical recession.

A technical recession takes place when there are two successive quarters of negative gross domestic product caused mainly by an isolated event.

This is distinct from a recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP due to an underlying economic problem.

During the first quarter, Philippine GDP shrank by 0.7 percent year-on-year.

Restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 were put in place in parts of the country starting March, bringing the Philippine economy to a temporary standstill.

These were eased starting June, with many areas–including Metro Manila–placed under a general community quarantine instead.

On Tuesday, Metro Manila and other parts of CALABARZON, however, reverted to a modified enhanced community quarantine, the second-strictest form of quarantine, after the medical community called for a two-week “time-out” to allow them to recover from exhaustion.

The medical community added the period could be used by the government to recalibrate its COVID-19 response amid the rising cases.

As of Wednesday, the Philippines has over 115,000 cases, second to Indonesia, which has the most number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia.