ONLY five percent of the businesses in the Philippines remain closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Wednesday, but consumer confidence has yet to pick up.
There are 1.42 million registered businesses in the country and 99.6 percent of them are considered micro, small and medium enterprises, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said during the plenary deliberation on DTI’s proposed P22.012-billion budget for 2021. He asked how many are still hampered from operating due to the pandemic.
“For closed establishments and MSMEs nationwide, as of end-June there was 38 percent, end of August was nine percent, end of October was six percent, and November was five percent,” Senate Committee on Finance chairperson Sonny Angara answered after receiving information from DTI representatives.
Pangilinan clarified if this meant that the rest are already back in operation.
“Yes, 95 percent have reopened but they may not necessarily be generating the same amount of business. Probably a lot have diminished – the retail sector, the transport sector, the tourism sector,” Angara said. “Theoretically they are open but in actuality and as reflected by the third quarter economic figures, the confidence is not there.”
The Philippine economy continued to contract in the third quarter of the year, based on data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority. Economic growth averaged -10 percent in the first nine months of 2020.(GMA News)
