Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Wednesday the Philippines hurdled the obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its strengths remained intact throughout the existence of the global health crisis.
Dominguez, speaking during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum, cited the country’s credit ratings that never experienced a downgrade since the start of the pandemic.
“I believe that we are over the hump on this COVID-19 contagion. I said it earlier that this is not a short battle. This is not a sprint. This is a marathon,” Dominguez said.
He said judging from past contagions, the COVID-19 pandemic would not come and go quickly. He said throughout the difficult time, the government tried to preserve the financial strength of the Philippines and “use the financial strength that President Duterte has built up since 2016, which I must admit was building on the successes of the administration of Noynoy Aquino.”
Dominguez said the current administration built on it and tried to improve it a little bit which “put us in a very good position.”
“We have been able to last this contagion without a downgrade. Of course Fitch [Ratings] put our outlook to negative earlier this year but that is not a downgrade,” Dominguez said.
The economy contracted by a record 9.6 percent in 2020, the worst GDP performance since World War 2. But economic managers expect the GDP to rebound by 4 percent to 5 percent this year, driven by faster vaccination rollout that could boost consumer and business confidence.
Data showed that in the first three quarters, the economy grew by 4.9 percent, near the upper end of the target range.
The World Bank on Tuesday raised its 2021 growth forecast for the Philippines to 5.3 percent from its previous estimate of 4.3 percent, taking into account the 7.1-percent third-quarter expansion that exceeded market expectations despite the prolonged impact of the pandemic.
World Bank senior economist Kevin Chua said the economic rebound gained momentum in the third quarter despite another COVID-19 wave.
Chua said GDP growth was expected to rise to 5.9 percent by 2020 and 5.7 percent by 2023, for a two-year average of 5.8 percent.
“The Philippines has, so far, faced its worst infection wave in September when the seven-day daily average reached about 21,000 cases due to the Delta variant. In response, the authorities re-imposed stringent mobility restrictions in Metro Manila and other key metropolitan areas,” Chua said.
“Nonetheless, compared with previous waves, domestic activity has been less sensitive to infections. Public containment measures constrained overall mobility less, while households and firms have learned to cope with infections and diminished mobility,” he said.
“As a result, the growth momentum was not severely hampered, and the third quarter growth surprised on the upside, exceeding market expectations,” Chua said.