Slim chance of 5% GDP growth for the Philippines

Bernardo noted gaps in managing the pandemic that had been left unattended, most notably weak contact tracing that increases the odds of more exposures.

MANILA: The Philippine economy may be hard-pressed to even grow by 5% this year as no relief is yet in sight from the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic a year since the outbreak, prompting a return to tough lockdown protocols.

This was according to Romeo Bernardo, economist at New York-based think tank Global Source, who said in a research note dated April 5 that the present crisis was a “concrete display of what has kept us worried all this time and why we have not been able to shake off a more pessimistic outlook for the economy.”