'Too early' to celebrate Q2 economic growth, senators say
Some senators were not overjoyed by the 11.8-percent growth in the Philippines' economy, stressing it is still far from pre-pandemic levels.
"Economic growth may be at its highest since 1988 but let’s not lose sight of the fact that still, it isn’t back to prepandemic levels," Senator Grace Poe said in a statement when sought for comment about the Philippine Statistics Authority's (PSA) latest report on Tuesday, August 10.
"We may have grown by 11.8 percent from the 17-percent contraction of last year but that’s nothing to brag about because much of it is base effect," she added.
Sen. Joel Villanueva also believed that it might be "too early" to celebrate in the rise in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) as considered the possible impacts of the reimposition of stricter lockdowns.
"It's a good sign, but I think we do not want to preempt at baka mabati. It's too early to tell if our growth can be sustained, especially that we are in ECQ (enhanced community quarantine now in NCR + (National Capital Region) where bulk of the economic activity comes from," he said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, a former socioeconomic planning secretary, also opined: " Will take a year or two to achieve GDP 2019 level."
"We grew four percent first half. I expect full year to be four percent," Recto projected.
Instead, Poe urged the government to spend its resources on the country's health sector, while protecting and creating jobs.
She reiterated her appeal for the release of the reimbursement to hospitals and the benefits due for health workers under laws.
Villanueva, for his part, also maintained that the country's economic recovery depends on controlling the spread of the coronavirus.
"Aside from the continuous roll out of vaccines, we need to step up our contact tracing efforts so that we identify clusters and hotspots, and implement localized lockdowns as needed. Implementing a wide-scale lockdown such as ECQ should be the last resort," he said.
"Let’s keep our people safe and ensure that there will be food on their table. Then and only then can these growth numbers mean anything," Poe pointed out.
The PSA had observed that despite the recovery from the recession, the country's economy is still far from reaching the growth levels recorded in 2019.