President Rodrigo Duterte lamented that the Philippines is losing Php2 billion a day due to the restrictions imposed against COVID-19.
“According to the Secretary of Finance, araw araw ngayon hanggang matapos ‘tong COVID, araw araw we are losing P2 billion na pera para sana ‘yun sa mga tao,” Duterte said in a speech on Monday night.
The President said that the Filipinos could’ve started earning money, but the economy itself prohibits them to do so.
“The workers, the Filipino workers would have earned that money kung ang ekonomiya natin gumagalaw,” he added.
The National Economic and Development Authority said that Filipinos lost Php1.4 trillion in 2020 due to quarantines.
“Lahat ng bayan ngayon ng buong mundo, bagsak. Talagang bagsak. Tayo, maganda na sana. No’ng hindi dumating ‘yung COVID we were doing fine. Hindi naman very good. We were doing good. Tapos dumating ‘yung COVID. Walang kita,” Duterte said.
The Philippines also recorded a -9.5% gross domestic product last year. The worst since 1947.
