MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network): The Covid-19 pandemic shed $43 billion from the Philippine economy last year — the eighth-highest economic toll among 15 Asian economies, as the tourism- and services-dependent region suffered from lockdowns to contain the deadly coronavirus, the think tank Japan Center for Economic Research (Jcer) said on Monday (Oct 25).
The Singapore-based DBS Bank also expects the Philippines, alongside India and Indonesia, to be the region’s laggards in restoring their respective populations’ lost incomes due to the pandemic.