MANILA - Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III is hopeful the Philippine economy can go back on track.

This, after the economy shrank 11.5 percent in the third quarter, marking the first time in 35 years that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted for three straight quarters.

• Philippine economy shrinks 11.5 pct in third quarter, but 'worst is over' says NEDA

In a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte Tuesday, Dominguez said the country's experience with COVID-19 the past several months shows that managing risks is the best way to revive the economy.

"Our experience with COVID-19 over the past several months tells us two things. First, the economy is strong enough to recover if we enable it to do so. Second, our best recourse to help the economy is to manage the risk," he said.

"Managing the risks instead of avoiding them will allow us to safely open more of the economy and help the Filipinos recover their sources of income. This will also put the Philippines back in its solid growth and development trajectory," he added.

Dominguez also thanked the Filipinos for their sacrifices and their resilience.

"These concerted efforts did not come without a cost. Our experience in 2020 thus far shows our resilience as a nation...We are aware of and are thankful for the many sacrifices the Filipino have to make," he added.

The negative growth in the July to September period followed a revised 16.9 percent contraction of the GDP in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

First quarter GDP had earlier also been revised to -0.7 percent from -0.2 percent.

This means that the GDP has contracted 9.7 percent in the first three quarters of the year, as the Philippines struggled to control the spread of COVID-19.

The Philippines has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases and COVID-19 deaths in the Southeast Asian region.

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