From the Taal eruption to the coronavirus pandemic, the year 2020 has brought in the most powerful forces of nature for the economy to face the risk of recession.
Despite the situation, the first quarter inflation remained within the two to four percent (2-4%) target of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The BSP said 2020 Quarter 1 (Q1) inflation is at 2.7 percent, slightly higher than the previous year’s 1.6 percent.
“The spread of the COVID-19 outbreak to many countries has caused the global economy to go into recession, in turn tourism, trade, foreign investments and remittances from overseas Filipinos are expected to contract,” BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno explained.
This has led to the central bank’s 75 basis points cut rate in the first quarter, followed by a 50 basis points cut last week to stimulate economic growth. The BSP has set the inflation outlook for 2020 at 2.2 percent and 2.4 percent for 2021.
To help restart the economy, the private sector which will receive the biggest blow from the COVID-19 economic hit is taking matters into its own hands through the help of Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion. He launched Project ARK to help in the COVID-19 mass testing.
Concepcion has reiterated that restarting the economy requires massive diagnostic testing for efficient monitoring and security measures.
