Philippines has enough money for COVID-19 war chest beyond 2022, DOF claims

The Philippines has enough funds for its COVID-19 war chest even after the term of President Rodrigo Duterte ends next year, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

According to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the government has exercised “fiscal prudence,” and the country will have enough buffers to sustain efforts moving forward.

“I don’t think we’re good only until six months. I think we are good beyond 2022,” Dominguez was quoted as saying to Duterte in an emailed statement from the DOF on Sunday.

“So it’s not going to be easy, but because of the moves that you have made from 2016 to 2019, we are ready to handle this problem financially,” he added.

The Philippine government has continued to accumulate debts to finance its COVID-19 efforts, with latest data available from the DOF pointing to $16.26 billion in budgetary support as of June 25, 2021.

The budgetary support includes financing agreements with the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Agence Française de Développement, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Korean Export-Import Bank - Economic Development Cooperation Fund.

READ: In COVID-19 battle, a new DDS: Duterte Debt Spree

According to the DOF, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has also given an assurance that P45 billion is available under the national government to purchase vaccines for children.

“Just to assure yourself, Mr. President and the health community, we do have the money for that. Now the question is, how do we use that money? Are we going to need booster shots? Are we going to need another set of vaccinations,” Dominguez said.

“For next year, we already have P45 billion in the budget and already financed for whatever the DOH (Department of Health) is going to recommend,” he added.

This comes as the government failed to spend some P6 billion under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or the Bayanihan 2, which expired in June.

Dominguez said the DOF and the DBM will be heading to each department to see where the P6 billion unspent funds are. DBM data show that the biggest amount worth P1.744 billion was with the Department of Education (DepEd).

“In relation to what we have released of P665 billion, this is 1%. And we are sure that it will be released, but in the meantime, we are asking each department to really push the… to really spend the money,” he said.

Earlier this month, Fitch Ratings downgraded its credit rating outlook on the Philippines to “negative” due to the increasing risks to the credit profile from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. —KG, GMA News