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Bloomberg
The Philippine economy contracted in the first three months of 2020 as restrictions to stem the coronavirus outbreak shut most businesses and sapped consumption, a trend seen worsening in the current quarter.
Gross domestic product fell 0.2% in the first quarter compared to a year ago, using 2018 as the new base year, the Philippine Statistics Authority said. That was worse than the median estimate of a 2.9% growth in a Bloomberg survey of economists and was the first contraction since the fourth quarter of 1998, according to the agency.
GDP slumped by 5.1% in three months ended on March 31 compared to the previous quarter, deeper than the 2% contraction expected by economists. That’s the worst quarter-on-quarter performance on record, according to data by Bloomberg. “Saving hundreds and thousands of lives has come at a great cost to
the Philippine economy,†Acting Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said.