THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will revisit its assumptions on the economic impact of the novel coronavirus disease.
The central bank earlier estimated that the spread of coronavirus will slash the country’s gross domestic product by 0.2 percentage point in the first quarter and 0.4 percentage point in the second quarter or an average of 0.3 percentage point of full year GDP.
BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno, however, admitted that the central bank’s estimates are based on “wrong assumptions.”
“We find out that we are basing it on wrong assumptions,” Diokno said during a business forum on Tuesday.
The central bank chief noted that the BSP based its assumption on the experiences during the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic.
“This is not SARS… This is slightly worse than earlier assumptions,” Diokno said.
“And China is much much bigger now,” he added.
The BSP’s revised computation will come out by late March or in April, Diokno said. (GMA News)
