The Philippine economy suffered a P180-billion loss during the 2-week return of Metro Manila and 4 surrounding provinces to the strictest lockdown level, the Department of Trade and Industry said on Thursday.

The enhanced community quarantine from March 29 to April 11 in Metro Manila and surrounding Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal provinces limited non-essential movement and allowed only select industries to open at full capacity.

The economic loss from ECQ is about 1 percent of the country's gross domestic product, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez estimated.

"Kung tayo'y may GDP na mga P18 trillion, ito po ay... sa 1 percent ay P180 billion, ang estimate na nawala sa ating ekonomiya," he said in a public briefing.

(If we have a GDP of P18 trillion, 1 percent of this is P180 billion, our estimate of our economic loss.)

Metro Manila, home to about 12 million people, alone accounts for about a third of the GDP.

• DTI: 1.5 million lost jobs during 2-week ECQ

The NCR Plus bubble shifted to the looser modified ECQ on April 12.

Lopez said his agency might recommend that the areas' quarantine level be downgraded a notch once COVID-19 cases go down and lead to a "surplus" in the health care system's intensive care capacity and hospital beds.

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