(Eagle News)– The Philippines’ gross domestic product fell 8.3 percent year-on-year during the fourth quarter, a reversal of the 6.7 percent growth recorded in the same quarter in 2019, pre-COVID-19 pandemic.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said the -8.3 percent compares to the -11.4 percent posted in the third quarter of 2020, completing the Philippine economy’s full-year contraction, with 2020 GDP shrinking at an overall 9.5 percent.
The -9.5 percent GDP is the biggest Philippine economy contraction recorded based on data collated since 1946.
The last time the Philippine economy had a full-year contraction was in 1998, when the economy shrank by 0.5 percent due to the Asian financial crisis.
The government had expected GDP at -8.5 percent to -9.5 percent for the entire 2020.
Economic managers said they, however, expected GDP to bounce back to 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent in 2021 and to 8 percent to 10 percent in 2022.
The Philippine economy suffered its first recession in almost 30 years in the second quarter of 2020, amid lockdowns imposed by the government to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Restrictions have since been eased, with the government making adjustments as COVID-19 reports come in.