Officially a recession: PH GDP shrank 16.5% in Q2

A general view of the skyline of the financial district of Makati. (AFP)

MANILA, Philippines–The Philippine economy contracted by a record 16.5 percent during the second quarter — at the height of the longest and most stringent COVID-19 lockdown in the region that had put a halt to 75 percent of economic activities and shed millions of jobs.

The Philippines fell into a technical recession or two straight quarters of gross domestic product contraction during the first half, as GDP shrank by 0.7 percent year-on-year during the first quarter no thanks to the eruption of Taal Volcano and the tourism revenue losses at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa earlier told the Inquirer that the last time the Philippines’ GDP dropped was in the first quarter of 1985 — during the waning years of the Marcos dictatorship, by 10.5 percent.

The economy also shrank by 10.7 percent in the third quarter of 1984.

Economic managers had projected GDP declining by 2-3.4 percent for the entire 2020.

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