DOF: Sufficient cash but budget for COVID-19 response running low

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the government has enough funds although the budget to address the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is starting to get limited.

In a televised briefing aired on Friday, Dominguez said the government has already spent P352.7 billion for COVID-19 response after President Rodrigo Duterte maintained that the government is “running low on funds.”

“Sufficiente po ang cash natin pero naiipit tayo sa budget allowance natin [for COVID-19]. May cash po tayo pero wala po tayong authority gumastos ng ganun kalaki,” Dominguez said.

“We’re making sure na lahat ng gastos natin ay number one for the benefit of ‘yung pinakamahirap sa bayan natin.”

He also said the government will use funds to support the infrastructure projects under the Build, Build, Build program.

“We will create jobs and we will create business opportunities with that,” he said.

For his part, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said the government should consider the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 infections in its mitigation plan.

“Where else, sir, can we go? Ito talaga 'yung sitwasyon na eh. And that therefore, ang sinasasabi lang natin, i-consider natin 'yung possibility of second wave. Kapag nag-second wave, paano 'yon?” he asked.

Avisado also said the transition to “new normal” would require “a lot of funding.” 

“The new normal should allow us to provide more jobs to the people para maging productive sila,” he said. 

Duterte, meanwhile, reiterated that the government might sell assets if funds will be insufficient.

Dominguez earlier said the government had raised to P1.49 trillion the funding requirement for the various measures to address the COVID-19 emergency. --KBK, GMA News