MANILA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The performance of manufacturing production in the Philippines further contracted in July 2020 amid the prolonged coronavirus disease lockdown that led to factory closures and movement restrictions, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.
The PSA said the year-on-year value of production index (VaPI) and the volume of production index (VoPI) remain a downward trend, declining 14.8 percent and 11.9 percent in July 2020, respectively.
"The contraction of VaPI in July 2020 was the fifth consecutive month that it exhibited annual decline," the PSA said in a statement.
VaPI in June decreased by 16 percent year on year.
The PSA added the VoPI for the manufacturing sector in July 2020 likewise contracted at a slower rate of 11.9 percent in July 2020 compared with the 12.5 percent decrease in June 2020.
While manufacturing is not yet in the positive territory, the Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary of the Philippines Karl Kendrick Chua said the trends of the volume and value of production in the last three months indicate an improvement in the trajectory of economic activity.
"This momentum suggests a gradual recovery of demand in the coming months until the end of the year," Chua said in a separate statement.
Despite the signs of recovery, Chua still sees the country's manufacturing performance to remain subdued in the near-term as businesses expect the pandemic to have a lingering impact on production.
"Sustaining the gradual and calibrated opening of the economy largely depends on the level of community quarantine that would allow businesses to operate and permit workers to remain mobile," Chua added. Enditem
