Typhoon Haiyan to Create $19bn in Philippines Economic Losses

Typhoon Haiyan will inflict up to $19bn worth of economic losses on the Philippines as the country struggles to deal with the devastation the natural disaster has left in its wake.

According to Kinetic Analysis Corp, the typhoon will swallow up a total of 5% of GDP output, worth between $12bn (£7.5bn, €8.9bn) to $15bn, while German-based CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis places total economic losses will reach between $8bn and $19bn.

Natural disasters are a common occurrence in the Far East and analysts at the Asian Development Bank said losses from typhoons and earthquakes cost the Philippines around $1.6bn each year.

Meanwhile the World Bank says the annual typhoon season cuts the Philippines' GDP growth by an average of 0.8 percentage points each year.

Typhoon Haiyan Devastation

The United Nations has estimated that more than 544,600 people have been displaced by the storm and nearly 12% of the population directly affected as Typhoon Haiyan swept across the country.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino says the death toll has risen above 10,000.

Before the country entered a "state of national calamity" its economy grew at an annual rate of 7.6% in the first half of 2013.

Eight people were killed in the Philippines after survivors of Typhoon Haiyan stormed a rice warehouse in desperate search of food, causing a stampede.

The victims were crushed to death after a wall of the government-owned warehouse collapsed under the weight of the stampede. Around 100,000 sacks of rice were removed in the chaos.

The Philippines was the eighth biggest rice-producing country in the world in 2012, but analysts say that the typhoon should have a limited impact on rice production.

HSBC said in a research note that the loss of rice production is forecast to be about 0.01% of annual production.

However, according to analysts at the bank, around 6000 hectares of sugar were flattened by the typhoon, equivalent to 3.5% of total sugarcane and 0.1% of total GDP. This is tipped to be worth around $324m.