"Huge job losses seen due to Covid-19," 07 March 2020

The Philippine economy could lose between $669 million and $1.94 billion as well as lose 87,000 to 252,000 jobs across five sectors due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said...

In a report titled “The Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Developing Asia,” the ADB said that among its member-countries, expected to be “significantly affected” by the disease’s economic fallout included those “with strong trade and production linkages with China.”

“Developing Asian economies such as Hong Kong, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam will be materially affected by the COVID-19 outbreak,” the ADB said.

ADB calculations showed that the Philippines’ value chain had an exposure to China equivalent to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018.

COVID-19’s overall impact on the Philippine economy on a moderate-case scenario—“where precautionary behaviors and restrictions such as travel bans start easing three months after the outbreak intensified and restrictions were imposed in late January”—was estimated by the ADB at 0.3 percent of GDP.

The total impact of COVID-19 on GDP and employment was also measured by the ADB across the following five sectors: agriculture, mining and quarrying; business, trade, personal and public services; light/heavy manufacturing, utilities and construction; hotel, restaurants and other personal services, and transport services.