The government will pour over a trillion pesos into a socioeconomic strategy to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
The package includes a P35bn wage subsidy for the employees of small businesses.
The four-pillar programme is contained in a document Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd shared with reporters in a Viber message.
In the document, preliminary Department of Finance (DoF) estimates showed that the government is ready to spend P1.17tn or 6.3% of the country’s gross domestic product or GDP to combat the pandemic.
Under the programme, P305.21bn will go to emergency support for vulnerable groups and individuals; P35.72bn to the resources to fight Covid-19; P830.47bn to the fiscal and monetary actions; and the rest to an economic recovery plan.
Here is the breakdown of the strategy: Pillar 1 includes P205bn emergency subsidy for 18mn low-income families in the informal sector; a P30bn top up for local governments’ support for vulnerable constituents; P16.5bn for rice programmes of the Departments of Agriculture and Trade and Industry to raise productivity and boost the buffer stock; P10bn Land Bank of the Philippines emergency loan for local governments; P2.8bn for zero-interest loans for affected farmers and fishers; P3.5bn cash assistance for displaced local workers and overseas Filipino workers; and P1bn loan programme for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Pillar 2 has P2.9bn from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office; P150mn grant from the Asian Development Bank; access to a P5bn World Bank fast-track loan facility to buy medical supplies and testing kits; and P1.8bn for buying 1m personal protective equipment or PPE sets for the Department of Health.
Pillar 3 includes P310bn additional financing from various multilateral and bilateral sources; the P300bn repurchase agreement between the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Bureau of the Treasury; the regulatory relief for BSP-supervised financial institutions; the extension of tax-compliance and loan payment deadlines; documentary stamp tax exemption of credit extensions or restructuring of loan payments; and increase of stock purchases volumes of state pension funds of at least P1bn to support the local bourse.
Pillar 4 includes the designing of a recovery plan for a post-quarantine scenario; the nationwide survey to assess the damage to industries, especially the MSMEs; and the continued investment in social and infrastructure programs to help revive and sustain economic growth, among others.
Dominguez also said the government was trying to put together more than P35bn in aid to employees of small firms that closed down because of the extended enhanced community quarantine.
“Last week, we announced that we are working on a programme to assist the employees of MSMEs and next week we will announce the details,” he told Manila Times in a text message.
Dominguez was responding to a proposal of Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente “Joey” Salceda for a P45bn wage subsidy for the 5.98mn people employed by SMEs and for freelancers.
Dominguez said the country’s strong fiscal performance last year gave the government “a lot of room to manoeuvre” in handling the Covid-19 emergency.
Funding has come from Republic Act 11469, or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,” which granted President Rodrigo Duterte the power to use funds of the state-owned firms and to realign the 2020 national budget during the period of contagion; the P300bn repurchase agreement between the BSP and the Bureau of the Treasury; and the government’s “very active” negotiations with the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for loans amounting to $5.7bn (over P288bn).
from Gulf Times https://ift.tt/2XwjQbv
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