Coronavirus Lockdown: Sustained Profitability, 8% Decrease, and More!

More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government. 

Locally assembled car sales are up further indicating a vibrant post-pandemic economic recovery.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1212277

Locally assembled vehicle sales in September 2023 increased by 9.5 percent to 38,628 units from 35,282 units sold a year ago, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) reported Sunday.

Sales of passenger cars propelled the growth last month at 9,558 units, with a double-digit expansion of 19.8 percent from 7,976 units sold in September 2022.

Commercial vehicle sales also went up by 6.5 percent year-on-year to 29,070 units from 27,306 units.

“We recorded the highest monthly sales in September, and we hope that positive consumer outlook will be sustained in Q4 (fourth quarter),” CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said.

From January to September 2023, industry sales were higher by 26.9 percent to 314,843 units from 248,154 units in the same period last year.

The industry group targets to hit 423,000-unit sales this year, which will include sales of imported vehicles.

Passenger car sales increased by 33.2 percent to 80,009 units from 60,058 units in the same comparable period.

Likewise, commercial vehicles that were sold in the same period jumped by 24.8 percent to 234,834 units from 188,096 units last year.

All sub-segments of commercial vehicles registered growth, with number of sales led by light commercial vehicles, followed by Asian utility vehicles, light-duty trucks and buses, medium-duty trucks and buses, and heavy-duty trucks and buses.

“The auto market remained resilient since 2021 and current trend indicates that we will breachore  the highest pre-pandemic sales performance and achieve full industry recovery in 2023,” Gutierrez said.

It's appears life is back to normal. 

The government took out huge loans during the pandemic and now with rising interest rates paying them of will be costlier. 

https://business.inquirer.net/427055/govt-faces-costlier-pandemic-debts

Rising interest rates could make it more expensive for the Philippine government to repay its pandemic-related debts, most of which have short payment terms and are falling due soon, Moody’s Analytics said.

“High interest rates will stress the government’s ability to service its debt as it will increase the cost of borrowing to repay these debts,” Sarah Tan, economist at Moody’s Analytics, said in response to emailed questions.

“The Philippines’ fiscal health is tenuous. In general, higher interest rates are unfavorable as it increases the repayment burden,” she added.

To fund its costly pandemic response, the government was forced to go on a borrowing spree that pushed its liabilities, as a share of the economy, above levels deemed manageable.

Not only did the government have to deal with a fat debt stock that bloated to P14.35 trillion as of August, most pandemic-related obligations that piled up at the height of the health crisis have short payment terms after the state tried to avoid paying high rates that are typically charged for longer-dated debts.

It seems the economy isn't really doing great at all due to these rising debts

Bank profitability is expected to remain sustained post-pandemic.

https://www.philstar.com/business/2023/10/23/2305758/sustained-profitability-seen-philippine-banks

Philippine banks are expected to sustain their profitability despite the slower economic growth brought about by external and domestic headwinds, according to S&P Global Ratings.

Nikita Anand, associate director at S&P, said the earnings of Philippine banks would continue to improve after the pandemic.

Anand said the return on average assets of the Philippines banks would be sustained at around 1.4 percent in 2024 and 2025 from the projected 1.5 percent  for this year.

She said that credit losses of Philippine banks are expected to remain flattish at 0.6 percent of total loans in 2024 and 2025 from the projected 0.6 percent for this year.

The credit losses of banks operating in the Philippines, she said, exceeded two percent of total loans in 2020 due to the impact of the global health pandemic.

Latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed the earnings of Philippine banks jumped by 27.7 percent to P182.76 billion in the first half from P143.12 billion in the same period last year as the industry’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio improved.

The DOH has recorded an 8% decrease in daily COVID cases. 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/10/24/doh-records-8-decrease-in-daily-covid-19-cases

The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday, Oct. 24, said 1,146 new Covid-19 cases were recorded from Oct. 16 to 22.

It noted that these cases showed an eight percent "decrease" with an average daily count of 164 cases compared to the previous week from Oct. 9 to 15.

Based on the latest data, 22 of the newly reported cases have been classified as "severe” or “critical.”

DOH said there have been nine deaths between Oct. 9 and Oct. 22.

It also reported that hospitals across the country had admitted a total of 221 severe and critical Covid-19 patients for treatment.

Of the 1,465 ICU beds designated for Covid-19 patients, 173 of them, or 11.8 percent, are currently occupied.

DOH also said that 2,118 out of 12,536 non-ICU Covid-19 beds, constituting 16.9 percent, are also in use.

The department urged the public to remain vigilant in the face of the ongoing Covid-19 threat.

What ongoing threat? Cases are down and so are deaths. 

The DOH is now assessing whether or not to procure the new monovalent vaccines.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/886153/doh-to-assess-need-to-procure-new-covid-19-monovalent-xbb-jabs/story/

The Department of Health (DOH) will assess whether or not there is a need to procure the new COVID-19 monovalent vaccines specifically targeting the Omicron XBB subvariant, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said Tuesday.

At a Palace briefing, Herbosa said they will await the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) and will observe what the other countries will do regarding the new vaccine.

“Apparently, what was discovered was the bivalent isn’t as effective because the bivalent also increases your antibodies to the original, not the later ones. So, parang 70% of the antibodies are triggered or still the older ones. So, in that case, it doesn’t really protect you from the newer variant. So, they changed again their formula and created the monovalent  XBB,” he said.

Herbosa said these doses were already depleted, hoping that the priority groups were able to get the COVID-19 jabs while they were available for free.

“We’ve consumed all our bivalent, actually, the 390,000 that we have. We are just hoping that the fact that most Filipinos are completely vaccinated for COVID, symptoms will be mild and this new variety is also like upper respiratory mild infection. So, we will watch it,” he said.

Oh no! Who would ever think the vaccine would not be effective? That means everyone who took it is not protected and the government wasted a lot of money.