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GLOBAL RESPONSE AND LOOKING FORWARD

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There is a renewed hope that the world will open up in due course with the advent of COVID-19 vaccines and promising medication candidates. Many companies have now begun to move to a "recovery mode" and have started planning for the longer term. As companies seek to strengthen operations and business resilience, the importance of supply chain resilience and risk management is more apparent than ever. Because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, many companies worldwide have considered: a) Optimizing supply chains resilience to build stronger long-term operations. b) Moving low-cost production to other countries such as Mexico and Vietnam. c) Communicating and managing within a remote working envirrunea and have stronger digital infrastructure. This refers to a "growing global interest in the idea of a Pandemic Treaty" This the refers to a"'recent call" for an international treaty that moved outline cohesive preparedness response measurein the event of a future pandemic.

PH ECONOMY SINKS DEEPER INTO RECESSION

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The Philippine economy is now in its longest recession since the foreign debt crisis in the 1980s after it shrank further in the first three months of 2021. The pandemic-induced economic downturn has extended to five consecutive quarters as the Philippines remained under the longest and most stringent COVID-19 quarantine in Asia due to elevated virus infections. National statistician Denis Mapa told a press briefing on May 11 that the 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2021 declined by 4.2 percent from a year ago, better than the 8.3-percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2020 but worse compared to the 0.7-percent contraction during the first quarter of 2020. GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced within the country for a given period. The decline reflected the economic hardship of consumers, whose combined spending fell y 4.8 percent in the first quarter. Such household consumption accounted for about three-fourths of GDP. The lockdowns caused by the pandemic led many small enterprises to close shop and reduced revenues of bigger companies, forcing them to lay off workers. With less money, these unemployed workers' families spent only on essential needs, such as food. The resulting lower derand for other goods and services prompted more companies to cut production and consequently suffer losses. They bring down operating costs further by laying off more workers. This is what economists refer to as the vicious cycle of an economic downturn. The recession started in the first quarter of 2020 when GDP shrank as a result of the eruption of Taal Volcano, which disrupted production at nearby industrial zones. The stringent quarantine restrictions imposed since mid-March last year exacerbated the situation and led the economy to continue shrinking until the first quarter of this year. Millions of jobs had been shed and thousands of businesses shutered as a result of the pandemic and the ensuing quarantines. malacanang said it was saddened by the continued shringking of the philippines economy but was looking forward to GDP growth in the suceeding quarters of the year. philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed that GDP slid to P4.35 trillion during the January-to-March period from P4.45 trillion a year ago. All three of the economy's major production sectors contracted in the first quarter- agriculture by 1/2 percent; industry by 4.7 percent and services by 4.4 percent. On the other hand, government spending increased by 16.1 percent mainly on the hack of massive infrastructure projects, which lifted public construction by 26.2 percent. Given minimal lifting of restrictions at the start of the year, Mapa first-quarter output grew by only 0.3 percent compared to GDP in the fourth quarter of last year-the slowest quarter-on-quarter growth since the strictest lockdown in the second quarter of 2020 was gradually eased.

lowered projections

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Private sector economists said that with the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus the collective term for Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal that accounted for half of the country's economy--under more stringent quarantine measures since early April due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, second-quarter GDP would again contract compared to the tirsi-quartet ouiput. However, the country's chief economist, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua, was still optimistic that the 2021 GDP growin target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent could still be achieved to jump-star a rebound from last year's 9.6-percent, GDP decline- the Philippines' worst postwar record. Chua, Who heads the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said the economy had at least eight more months to catch up. He said a further easing of quarantine restrictions combined with a safe reopening of the economy as well its ten faster mass vaccination and better contract tracing Would help in economic recovery moving forward. Chua added that unlike last year's enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) when 75 percent of the economy stopped, the recent two-Week (April 26, 2021 to May 10, 2021) ECQ reimposed in NCR Plus and the ongning modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) allowed people to go to work and minimizer disruption to livelihoods. He projected the impact of the ECQ and MECQ in NCr Plus on second-quarter economic performance to be muted. "Once the present spike is over, we can implement quarantine relaxations in a phased approach to boost our recovery this year. For instance, we can move NCR toward MGCQ [a less-stringent modified general community quarantine], allow families and children to participate in the economy and restart face-to-face schooling." Chua said.