Neda sees P300-billion loss from 2-week lockdown

Police checks, like this last year, have become common sights during lockdown enforcement. FILE PHOTO/NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — The two-week lockdown that the government imposed to contain the contagious Delta strain will likely cost the economy P300 billion in output losses, the country’s chief economist said.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua on Friday night said the various community quarantine classifications, which took effect on Friday would affect 68 percent of the economy and slash P150 billion in production output each week.

In turn, 600,000 Filipinos would temporarily lose their jobs, jacking up poverty incidence by 250,000 people, said Chua, who also heads the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

The dire figures were similar to the rest of Southeast Asia where factories have also been affected by the Delta variant, disrupting global supplies of goods such as rubber gloves, semiconductors, and sport utility vehicles, and threatening the region’s $3- trillion economy.

Reuters earlier reported a series of factory surveys last week that showed business activity across most Southeast Asian economies fell sharply in July.

The economic disruptions in Southeast Asia caused by the virus have been made worse by slow pace in vaccinations in the region of 600 million people.

Governments have struggled to secure doses and have imposed costly lockdowns that have left many factories without workers.

HSBC economists warn the low inoculation rates in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand put their economies at risk.

“This means that populations in these countries could remain vulnerable not only to the current outbreak but any future mutations that may develop,” HSBC said.

—WITH A REPORT FROM REUTERS