Philippines Officially Enters Technical Recession in 2020

The Philippines contracted a record 16.5% in gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of the year, during one of the longest and most stringent lockdowns in Asia that cost millions of people employment and stopped 75% of economic activity.

The first quarter of the year also had the GDP shrink, by 0.7% year-on-year because of the eruption of Taal Volcano and the economic loss from the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

Two successive quarters of GDP contraction marks a technical recession for the Philippines.

The last time the Philippines experienced a drop in GDP was in 1985 by 10.5%, during the Marcos dictatorship.

Experts have projected the Philippine economy to decline by a total of 2-3.4% for the year 2020.