MANILA, Philippines—The COVID-19 pandemic will make 2.7 million more Filipinos poor this year on top of a record slide in the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) or economic output in what could be the worst outturn post-war, the World Bank said Tuesday.
The Washington-based multilateral lender was nonetheless bullish about an economic recovery starting in 2021 as quarantine restrictions further ease and as COVID-19 vaccines become available.
The World Bank’s Philippine Economic Update for December 2020 projected GDP shrinking by a bigger 8.1 percent in 2020, from the previous forecast of 6.9 percent.
While more optimistic than the government’s estimate of 8.5-9.5 percen…
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