30% of Businesses in the Philippines Shut Because of Pandemic

The Department of Trade and Industry announced on Thursday that some 30% of businesses in the Philippines have closed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ramon Lopez, Trade Secretary, said that the agency has yet to determine if the establishments were fully or temporarily closed due to the virus.

Of the 70% of businesses still open, 20% are fully operating while 50% are partially operating.

Of those who have partially resumed operations, 90% reported that income was down.

Lopez added “Many are probably still operating below break even but businessmen we spoke to said we need to continue fighting, we have no choice but to help each other in reopening the economy”

“When we reopened we saw workers returning to their jobs and we were moving up,”

The Trade Secretary continued with “It’s like we hit rock bottom and now we’re moving upwards, so now we’re observing when we can return to our pre-COVID volume because that really is the big challenge.”