COUNTRIES around the world have been fighting the COVID-19 pandemic largely on two fronts – public health and economic.
On public health, countries have been counting the number of infections and deaths among their citizens. The United States has fared worst among the countries of the world with more than a million infections out of the global 3.6 million, and over 70,000 deaths out of the global total of over 255,000.
The Philippines as of Tuesday had 9,485 confirmed cases, with 623 deaths. It also keeps a record of recoveries – 1,315.
The countries of the world are also striving to meet the economic fallout from the pandemic. The US government’s first response to the pandemic was a $2-trillion stimulus bill approved by Congress, largely to assist the nation’s distressed business firms, with some aid for middle-class Americans, and funds for hospitals in the frontlines of the fight against the virus.
The London-based publication The Economist conducted a study of how the world’s nations are facing the economic impact of COVID-19 and cited 66 countries which are relatively safe, against 30 in or near distress. The top economies that are doing well in the pandemic are Botswana, Taiwan, South Korea, Peru, Russia, and the Philippines.
It is indeed an honor to be cited as one of the world’s national economies doing well in the effort to survive the economic chaos inflicted by COVID-19.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Benjamin Diokno said the good Philippine economic position is the result of a well-crafted economic plan by the administration’s economic team and President Duterte’s strong leadership in getting Congress to enact needed legislation. The Philippines was already on the way to getting an A-rating before the pandemic, he said. While the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to contract by 0.2 percent, it should bounce back to a 7.7 percent growth next year, he added.
How is all this economic situation affecting ordinary Filipinos? Inflation – a measure of market prices – is now a low two percent. In contrast, we may recall that when prices rose to unprecedented heights in 2018, the inflation rate hit 6.7 percent in September before it started going down at the end of the year.
Diokno said the BSP expects the inflation rate to decrease further in the coming months because global economic prospects are down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Philippine inflation rate should remain low in the rest of this year, he said, and pick up only in the second quarter next year, 2021.
Economically, therefore, the Philippines is doing well in the ongoing pandemic. We have been able to keep our public health statistics – infections and deaths – down. It is good to know that we are also doing well in meeting the economic problems COVID-19 has inflicted on nations around the world.
