Philippines sees limited impact from virus surge on economy

Bloomberg

The Philippines’ renewed surge in coronavirus infections will have limited impact on the economy as authorities impose localised lockdowns and as vaccinations pick up, Economic Planning Secretary Karl Chua said.
The Southeast Asian nation, which will likely remain in recession this quarter, has to manage the spike in cases without reinstating stricter movement curbs which will hurt jobs, Chua said in a mobile-phone reply to questions.
The Philippines, which has Southeast Asia’s second-worst outbreak, has reported more than 4,000 new infections in each of the past three days, hitting the highest since August. The surge in cases is due to increased contact as the economy reopens, while pandemic fatigue may have led to violations of health protocols at home and workplaces, the Department of Health said.
Meanwhile, Philippine authorities may open Abra Mining & Industrial Corp. for takeover should it fail to address trading violations.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange are considering bringing a “white knight” into Abra Mining so that it remains publicly traded, PSE President Ramon Monzon said. Owners and officers have until this week to explain how the trading irregularities happened and to
respond to bourse’s proposed solution, he said.
“If they aren’t able to do that, delisting the particular stock wouldn’t be helpful to investors because they’d get stuck with the security,” Monzon told Bloomberg Television’s David Ingles and Tom Mackenzie in an interview.
Trading of Abra Mining shares was suspended indefinitely from March 4 as authorities probe alleged violations, including the trading of unissued and unlisted shares. At its peak in January, Abra Mining was up more than 279% from end-2020 amid a buying frenzy by retail investors.
The loss-making miner accounted for 77% of the market’s daily transactions volume this year, prior to the stock’s suspension, and accounted for about 10% of the entire Philippine market’s transaction value in the two days before the halt.