MANILA, Philippines—Two economists on Thursday (May 6) said they expected not only a bigger year-on-year contraction in gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2021 but also output that is smaller than the fourth quarter of 2020, which would extend the Philippines’ longest recession since the fall of the Marcos dictatorship.
In separate reports, ING Philippines’ senior economist Nicholas Mapa said GDP likely shrank by 3.5 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2021, while Security Bank Corp. chief economist Robert Dan Roces projected a bigger 5.1-percent drop in real GDP to P4.2 trillion.
The government will report on the first-quarter …
Keep on reading: Economists see PH’s longest post-Marcos recession extending to 1st quarter of 2021