SOME of the government’s big-ticket projects under the Build, Build, Build (BBB) program failed to deliver when it comes to generating economic growth in the country, Malacañang acknowledged on Tuesday, but traced this to the disruptions caused by existing restrictions for the entry of foreigners.
In an online press briefing on Monday, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said, “I know of one flagship project under the Build, Build, Build project, [whose proponent] requested for the entry of their 97 expats last May 9 [2021]. They were not immediately allowed to enter due to the intensified [restrictions],” Roque said.
However, he noted that even after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) eventually relaxed the travel restrictions, half of the concerned foreign consultants refuse to enter the country due to concerns over the rising numbers of local Covid-19 cases.
Roque said such cases could have contributed to the 24.2-percent decline in the contribution of the construction industry to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the first quarter of the year.
Construction was among the early exemptions to the lockdowns imposed since March 2020 after Covid-19 entered Philippine shores, and the government had to resort to sweeping quarantine restrictions to prevent its spread.
While most enterprises especially in tourism and services remained shuttered, the construction sector, particularly projects under the ambitious infrastructure project, were among those where the mobility curbs were lifted.
As to the 1.2-percent decline in the GDP contribution of the agriculture sector, Roque attributed it to the impact of the African Swine Fever (ASF) on the local hog industry, which, with all its allied and downstream enterprises, is estimated at P300 billion.
On Tuesday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported the country’s GDP from January to March contracted by 4.2 percent, which was already an improvement from the negative -8.3 percent GDP growth in the last quarter of 2021.
Roque said the government’s economic managers are confident the country’s economy can bounce back before the end of the year due to the ongoing mass vaccination program.
He earlier said the inoculation drive will help restore the operation of businesses and consumer confidence, which will help perk up the economy.