PHL economy posts worst performance since ‘46, contracts 9.5% amid Covid lockdowns

By Cai Ordinario, 28 Jan 2021

CRIPPLED by lockdowns, Philippine economy posted a contraction of 9.5 percent in pandemic year 2020, the worst performance on record since 1946, according to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday.

In a briefing, National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said economic growth was the worst since the PSA started collecting annual data in 1946.

Mapa said the fourth quarter also saw the economy contract 8.3 percent, despite the holidays.

“In the fourth quarter of 2020, our economy performed better with a smaller GDP contraction of -8.3 percent. This brings the full-year GDP contraction to -9.5 percent, which is at the low end of the DBCC estimate of -8.5 to -9.5 percent for 2020. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew by 5.6 percent,” Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said.

The top contributors to the decline of GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2020 were Construction which declined 25.3 percent; Other Services, 45.2 percent; and Accommodation and Food Service Activities, 42.7 percent.

Among the major economic sectors, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing (AFF) registered a contraction of 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020. Services and Industry posted declines of 8.4 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively.

In 2020, PSA said AFF contracted 0.2 percent; Services, 9.1 percent; and Industry, 13.1 percent.

On the expenditure side, PSA said the Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GFCE) posted positive growth of 4.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE) declined by 7.2 percent, along with the Gross Capital Formation (GCF) at 29 percent; Exports, 10.5 percent; and Imports, 18.8 percent.

For the whole of 2020, GFCE grew by 10.4 percent while HFCE contracted 7.9 percent; GCF, 35.8 percent; Exports, 16.7 percent; and Imports, 21.9 percent.

PSA data showed Net Primary Income (NPl) from the Rest of the World, and the Gross National Income (GNl) contracted 53.2 percent and 12 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, while full-year 2020 growth rates of NPI and GNI declined 27.3 percent and 11.1 percent, respectively.