President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday. The Philippine economy would slowly reopen. And then, cautioned that rushing it could lead to more coronavirus infections than the country could manage.
Speaking at a meeting with Cabinet officials, Duterte said the Philippines could not reopen with “wild abandon” like the United States and Brazil.
He noted that countries reopening their economies had experienced a revival of the latest coronavirus.
Earlier, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the country’s main economic centers like Metro Manila and the Calabarzon region should move to looser quarantine restrictions as soon as possible to reopen the economy.
Economy Recovery
On Wednesday, Dominguez, head of the government’s economic team, expressed hope. The gradual reopening of the economy will lead to recovery while maintaining minimum health standards.
Dominguez described the coronavirus pandemic as an incident involving black swans that halted the vigorous growth of the Philippines.
Yet drastic government actions such as the March Luzon lockdown avoided 1,3 million to 3,5 million infections, he said, citing models developed by the Philippine Health Research and Development Council and Philippine University.
But the lockdown, which halted 75 percent of the economy, shrank the gross domestic product by 0.2 percent in the first quarter.
And then, its extension starting April resulted in a 15-year high unemployment rate. It was a lower tax revenue. But, it was higher spending prompted by the government’s coronavirus response, which would expand the budget deficit.
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