Philippine Government To Borrow $5.6 Billion From World Bank

Philippine Government To Borrow $5.6 Billion For COVID-19 Response

PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT TO BORROW $5.6 BILLION – President Rodrigo Duterte recently ordered Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III to find money for their coronavirus response.

As such, the Dominguez announced the government would loan $5.6 billion dollars from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. This was done to further address the spread of COVID-19 in the Philippines.

We are coming up with a program to continuously borrow money to support the Philippine economy and our fight against COVID,

Additionally, he said that they are confident that the government has the financial capability to handle the problem COVID-19 has brought to the country. According to an article from Esquire, Dominguez said they are working on its recovery or bounce back program.

Philippine Government To Borrow $5.6 Billion From World Bank
Image from: Panay News

He emphasized that their main objective now is to provide safety to the citizens of the Philippines and to ensure they have food on the table. As per the article, Dominguez stated:

We have the money, although we have to realize na hindi naman endless ‘yung pera na ito kaya kailangan we have to spend it correctly hindi ‘yung wasteful expenditures

Moreover, Domiguez stated that the program’s primary objective would center around spending for the “poorest families and then to help the small-medium enterprises (SMEs) and to provide support for the companies that are supported by their banks”.

However, the Finance Secretary admitted that the coronavirus pandemic had hit the country “in a very hard way”. Furthermore, the agency predicted a GDP growth of 0 or negative 1 percent.

Their agency also suggested that around 1.2 million workers would be temporarily unemployed due to the effects of the coronavirus.

Thanks for reading!

Like this article? READ ALSO: Modified Lockdown Pushed For Luzon Amid Coronavirus Crisis

Leave a Comment