PH CEOs brace for further revenue losses in 2021 due to COVID-19

Most chief executive officers (CEOs) surveyed by PwC Philippines are pinning their hopes of a business recovery on the government’s vaccination program, but 73 percent are already bracing for further revenue losses this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PwC Philippines partnered with the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) to conduct a survey on 131 CEOs, 62 percent of whom represent large companies belonging to the top 0.5 percent of registered businesses. The rest of the respondents are from micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

The results of the survey, which was conducted from April to May this year, show that 79 percent of CEOs consider an “effective and equitable vaccination program” as one of the most urgent measures the government should implement to help their respective industries recover from the impact of COVID-19. Some 69 percent of them expect their workforce to be fully vaccinated this year.

Also, 40 percent of the respondents said their businesses had so far incurred actual losses ranging from 20 percent of their 2020 revenues to more than 50 percent. When asked to select the major factors behind the losses, most of them pointed to lower sales because consumer demand got affected (44 percent) and because businesses closed in certain months of the year (34 percent).

The majority of them, or 73 percent, expect to see further revenue losses in 2021. Eleven percent expect their losses to be 20 percent to 30 percent of their 2020 revenues, while 7 percent expect a more severe decline of between 30 percent to 40 percent, and another 7 percent expect this to even go over 50 percent.

The survey was conducted around the time when the healthcare system got overwhelmed by a surge in COVID-19 infections, leading to a revert to the most stringent of quarantine restrictions that have wreaked havoc on the economy.