THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 TO

THE PHILIPPINES ECONOMY:

EMPLOMENT, TOURISM,
AGRICULTURE EDUCATION
AND GLOBAL TRADE
 I.Purpose and Rationale
One of East Asia's most dynamic economies was Philippines. Strong
consumer demand, a robust labor market, and remittances from abroad all
contribute to the Philippines' economic growth. The Philippines' economy
has changed dramatically during the last few years. However, significant
changes have been made to people's lives and corporate operations on a
national, regional, and international level as a result of the novel coronavirus
disease COVID-19. The Philippines developed an emergency subsidy
program with significant public investment to support disrupted homes and
businesses and moved quickly to contain the epidemic, including the use of
enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
 I.Purpose and Rationale
The national capital region and high-risk provinces were placed under a
severe lockdown, which resulted in significant economic losses. Many of its
citizens have experienced severe illness or death as a result of the virus, and
due to the negative economic effects, many businesses have shut down or
reduced operations. Anyone interested in learning more about what transpired
at COVID-19 and how it affected many facets of our lives is encouraged to
read this report. Additionally, it should be helpful for anyone who is
interested in learning how they can help those who have been affected by
COVID-19 or its repercussions. This report's goal is to examine how the
COVID-19 pandemic has affected the Philippine economy.
 I.Purpose and Rationale

The current state of the Philippine economy will be

examined in this report, as well as any changes brought on by
COVID-19. It will also feature an analysis of recent data on
the nation's economic state, the tourism sector, and other
industries. Additionally, it will go over how severely COVID-
19 has affected these industries and what may be done to assist
them in recovering from the virus and go on with better
performance
Context
Background
According to the World Bank report the Philippines has been one of the
most dynamic economies in the East Asia Pacific region. Average annual growth
increased to 6.4% between 2010 to 2019 from an average of 4.5% between 2000
to 2009. The Philippines’ economic progress relies upon strong consumer
demand, a thriving labour market, and remittances received from overseas.
Increased urbanisation, a growing middle class, and a young population help to
drive these. According to the report of future learn In January 2020, the country’s
first COVID-19 case was recorded, and by March, the country had been placed
under a strict community quarantine, restricting mobility and commercial activity.
While these actions delayed the spread of COVID-19, they had serious negative
consequences for family incomes, jobs, education, food security, and businesses.
 Revenue fell by 9% in 2020 due
to rising expenses. The Bureau of
Internal Revenue’s collections fell by
10.3%, and the Bureau of Customs’
collections fell by 14.7%, resulting in
an 11.4% reduction in tax revenues.
The Philippine government faced a
P1.37-trillion budget deficit in 2020
due to higher expenses and decreased
revenue
Spending on recreation, travel, and restaurants bounced back in the
first half of 2022, with household consumption rising 9.3%, from 0.9% in
The pandemic caused the the first semester of 2021. It was the most significant contributor to GDP
growth in the period.
Philippines’ economy to decline to its
lowest level since World War II, with according to a report released today by the Asian Development Bank
GDP decreasing by 9.5% in 2020. (ADB). The Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 6.5% in
2022
Context
Key Statistics
According to The Philippine Lancet Regional Health The
Philippines is contending with one of the worst COVID-19
outbreaks in southeast Asia. As of April 18, 2021, there were 926
052 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection and 15 810 deaths recorded.
WHO has warned that the country health-care system risks being
overwhelmed. From March 29, 2021, a new round of lockdown was
implemented in Manila and four surrounding provinces to suppress
the new surge of infections. Although lockdown measures help
control the spread of the virus, they only offer a short-term solution
Context
Key Statistics
The pandemic has heavily hit the country in multiple ways. As
an archipelagic country made up of more than 7000 islands, the
Philippines is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to
natural disasters. In addition, the longstanding battle with infectious
diseases has been compounded with the rise in non-communicable
diseases due to lifestyle changes and an increase in risk behaviours.
These issues have predisposed the population to severe negative
effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy shrank almost
10% in 2020, which pushed more people into poverty.
Context
Key Statistics
According to The Philippines Health System Review published
by WHO in 2018, there were 23 beds per 10 000 individuals in the
National Capital Region, and this number is less than ten per 10
000 individuals for the rest of the country. Public and privately
owned health systems are supposed to be complementary in health-
care service delivery, but no effective measure exists to regulate the
expanding private sector, leading to a high amount of out-of-pocket
expenses for health care; for example, more than half of total health
spending was out-of-pocket in 2018.
 Context
Theorical Frameworks
Effect to the Unemployment
According to the Republic of the Philippines Institute for labor
studies The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought about
undeniable adverse impacts to all sectors of the Philippine economy,
with the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest Labor Force
Survey (LFS) reporting that there are currently 3.5 million
unemployed Filipinos and estimating the unemployment rate at 7.4%
(2021). Those affected by these adverse impacts are unions, which
engage in collective bargaining to improve their economic conditions
(Bitonio 2022).
 Context
Theorical Frameworks
Effect to the Tourism Industry
According to the researh of PwC Philippines In the first quarter of 2020, the period when the travel
restrictions and lockdowns in most countries started, international tourist arrivals declined by 22% resulting in an
estimated loss of US$80bn in global tourism receipts. In such period, 97 destinations have totally or partially closed
their borders for tourists, 65 destinations have suspended international flights totally or partially, and 39 destinations
were implementing the closing of borders (i.e., banning the arrivals from specific countries). In the Philippines, the
government closed the airports in Luzon on 20 March as part of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) that
started in the island on 16 March. The tourism sector has already felt the negative impact of the pandemic on its
performance much earlier. In other countries, travel restrictions and measures have started as early as January of this
year, and have impacted the Philippine international tourist arrivals. Domestic tourists, on the other hand, also
limited their travel for fear of contracting COVID-19. The Department of Tourism reported that international tourist
receipts in the first quarter of the year declined to PHP85bn, 36% lower than the revenues in the same period last
year.
 Context
Theorical Frameworks
Effect to the Agricultural Sector
According to the Department of Agriculture the Covid-19 pandemic reduced the volume of
agricultural production by 3.11 percent or 17.03 million tons because of a decline in agricultural farm
labor affecting about 100.77 million people (Gregorio 2022). the agricultural food systems would create
supply and demand shocks that would redound to the agriculture sector's immediate and long-term
economic performance and food security contribution. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to
result in 3.11 percent reduction in aggregate volume of agricultural production (29.58 million tons) in
Southeast Asia due to decline in agricultural farm labor affecting 100.77 million individuals. Overall, this
could translate to 1.4 percent decrease in GDP (USD 3.76 billion) of the Southeast Asian region. Ensuring
a systemic transformation of the agricultural systems into resilient, sustainable, productive, and inclusive
food systems would be critical for the future of Southeast Asia (Gregorio and Ancog 2022).
 Context
Theorical Frameworks
Effect to the Education
COVID-19 has had a unreasonable impact on education, employment, and livelihood options.
Within the first three months of the pandemic, the number of out-of-school youth (OSY) climbed from
16.9 percent in January to 25.2 percent in April Due to COVID-19, education issues in the Philippines
have increased and received new challenges that worsened the current state of the country. With the
sudden events brought about by the health crisis, distance learning modes via the internet or TV
broadcasts were ordered. Further, a blended learning program was launched in October 2020, which
involves online classes, printouts, and lessons broadcast on TV and social platforms. Thus, the new
learning pathways rely on students and teachers having access to the internet. This yet brings another issue
in the current system. Millions of Filipinos don’t have access to computers and other digital tools at home
to make their blended learning worthwhile
 Context
Theorical Frameworks
Effect to the Global Trade
According to the World Bank the impact of lockdowns on the international trade of the Philippines,
one of East Asia’s top traders, and one of the countries in the region most affected by the virus with the
highest number of infections in East Asia between mid-August and mid-October 2020. response to this,
the government imposed several measures to lessen the spread of the virus, the relaxation of which started
in late May 2020. At the same time Philippine’s trading partners were imposing lockdowns as well. Using
a monthly series of product-by-country data for the period from January 2019 to December 2020 and an
event study design. The combined drop in exports of goods and services was larger than in the Asian
financial crisis in 1998 (-14.7%) and the global financial crisis in 2008-2009 (-11.8%).
 Conclusion
The first lockdown in March 2020 had a dramatic effect on the labor market.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority the annual employment in 2020 was
4.5 million unemployed Filipinos. In 2021 of January the number of employed people
estimated at 6.6 million they expressed a need for more hours of work. The
unemployment rate is at 8.8% that equivalent to 4.2 million of people. "Floating status"
it means the workers are under the "no work - no pay" arrangement during the
pandemic but this is not included in the number of unemployed. The impact of
pandemic has affected their work as a labor rights institution because of restriction in
mobility. It said that it's challenging because the internet connection here is poor and
the workers need to access and the capacity for virtual meeting and other activities.
 Conclusion
The pandemic induced travel bans that caused untold suffering among tourism
stakeholders and the business closures. 33% of all travel and tourism employees have been laid
off. In Philippine Airlines booked a loss of 617.65 million for the nine months of 2020 while
Cebu Pacific booked a loss of 457 million for the entire year. The international flights from
Manila goes down from 10,769 in 2019 to 2,975 in 2020 while the domestic flights from 13,392
to 3,739. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) trade association of the world's
airline, they have a mission to save airlines and all related tourism enterprises from sinking
further. They aim is to lift all travel restrictions by collabarating with the World Health
Organization (WHO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) means no more
quarantine requirements for arriving passengers and no more travel or flight bans. It helps
economies to begin rebuilding again.
 Conclusion
Some farmers and fisherfolk reduced sales and sales prices. The closure of
banks and non-operation by financiers also affected them, some workers had a difficult time
reporting to the place of work suspension of public transport. Some business operators decide to
stay at home and not open for business transaction and the abilit of households to buy some food
affected because of the pandemic. The restrictions eased up over May and June and the
complaints about the transportation become less frequent. Input and credit support from the
government was also helpful for farmers. The new strategic vision for agricultural promote the
development of a diversified agriculture and food system that will enhance the welfare of the
rural population and improve the food security.
 Conclusion
Public and private schools adjust to the new situation where the face to face
interaction, mass gatherings and other activities are prohibited. The administrator and teachers
adjusted to work from home arrangements they put task of revising and adapting course syllabus.
These arrangements became unsustainable because of the uneven socioeconomic status of
students that affected their access to theses modalities of learning. 81% of youths said they find
challenging to find a place to study while 76% said its tough to concentrate on learning while at
home and one of the significant reason aside from lack of enabling space is the digital device.
Less than 20% of young people questioned had access to either tablet or laptop at their home
while 86% said that it's hard to learn without a teacher's help.
 Conclusion
Governments face a trade off between implementing economic recovery and health policy
measures to control the spread of virus. They proceed to assess the trade off policy between health and
economic, the economic losses for 3 months in 8 scenarios including the National Capital Region
(NCR). The study finds that in NCR, a policy trade off losses comprise 10.66% of its Gross Regional
Domestic Product. Philippines was affected by its own lockdown policies and those of trading partners
on various margin. The domestic lockdown measures only affected imports while external lockdowns
affected both exports and imports. The introduction of lockdown measures by trading partners led to a
7% and 57% monthly average drop in export and import values, this was largely influenced by the fall
in trade at the extensive margin. Covid 19 hitting countries at different times and rates, access to global
demand via open markets and continued trade will be important for supporting and sustaining
economic recovery. It said that there is a need to consider how to keep trade flowing in the current
crisis and to ensure it can help underlin global recovery.
 Recommendation
As the coronavirus pandemic rapidly sweeps across the world, it is inducing
a considerable degree of fear, worry and concern in the population at large and
among certain groups in particular, such as older adults, care providers and
people with underlying health conditions.
In public mental health terms, the main psychological impact to date is
elevated rates of stress or anxiety. But as new measures and impacts are
introducedespecially quarantine and its effects on many people’s usual activities,
routines or livelihoods levels of loneliness, depression, harmful alcohol and drug
use, and self-harm or suicidal behaviour are also expected to rise.
 Recommendation
Government should issued an order on how to protect our own agriculture,
economy and tourist destination because I believe that we was destined to enhance
and make it beautiful as better. Employment and education should prioritize as
now a days a high standard is required to find a good job and the minimum wage
was not acceptable as the price of goods are increasing, it all started when
pandemic begins and to that will be a big lesson to have a savings. Global trade has
to charge a higher pay bills to import the goods from our culture to had an
appropriate money to solve a problem like this pandemic and because it was
unacceptable to Filipinos whose made it to sell but get from them a lower price
then sell it in other country a higher in the past pandemic
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