NEDA ‘strongly believes’ further easing of quarantine rules by March
The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) ‘strongly believes’ that the Philippines can further ease its quarantine restrictions for an economic comeback.
In a briefing, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said if the government eases mobility restrictions by March, the economy is likely to recover by the second quarter of 2021 – making the target Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 6.5 to 7.5 per cent feasible.
Since Metro Manila and its neighboring regions were placed under GCQ for almost a year, Chua said that Filipinos have already learned to “live with the virus” as evidence showed by recent data.
“We hope that by March, we can make a turnaround hopefully in the second to the fourth quarter. So far, so long as we manage the risks better, we do not see a significant change in our economic growth trajectory. So we can still achieve the 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent [target this year],” Chua said.
