In the sequencing of events on the road to the political integration of Europe, I once had a distinct preference for political union preceding monetary union. As I have argued elsewhere,25 historical experience shows that national territories and monetary territories normally coincide. Now, of course, the reality is that, if political union is ever to occur, monetary union will have preceded it.
By reallocating resources to sectors which needed help the most, the economy was able to register sustained improvements on a quarter-on-quarter basis. From the 16.9 percent contraction recorded in the second quarter of 2020, which was at the peak of the lockdown, the Philippine economy managed to post slower declines of 11.4 percent and 8.3 percent in Q3 and Q4, respectively.