Senator Sonny Angara on Sunday reiterated his call for more businesses to go online or digital in order to remain competitive under the new normal and to provide a much needed boost to the economy.
While the economy is expected to rebound after a historic slump last year, growth is still expected to remain slow as restrictions to movement are still in place and the roll out of the vaccination against Covid-19 has yet to begin.
“We want to see more economic activity this year but we still have to remain cautious as we are seeing a lot of new COVID-19 cases, as well as the new B117 variant of the coronavirus. Easing of restrictions will not happen right away so we have to continue making adjustments to thrive under the new normal,” Angara said.
The National Economic and Development Authority has reported the full year GDP figures for 2020, which saw a contraction of the economy by 9.5 percent.
This was due to the lockdowns imposed after the Covid-19 outbreak in the country early last year wherein almost all economic activity came to a halt. For 2021, the economic managers expect to see a growth rate of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent.
Angara said that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) could help generate more economic activity for the country by moving towards digitalization, which many of them have done already.
“In the past year we have seen significant growth in our MSMEs. People who lost their jobs due to the pandemic were forced to find ways to generate income and for many of our enterprising kababayans, starting small online businesses was the way to go,” Angara said.
According to the Department of Trade and Industry, registration of MSMEs soared to 88,000 as of end-2020 from a mere 1,700 before Covid-19 hit the country.
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
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