‘PRICES, COVID TACK KEY TO RECOVERY’
AN economist-lawmaker on Wednesday welcomed the upgrading of the country’s growth outlook from 6.5 percent to 6.9 percent by the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), but says the country should keep Covid-19 response “proportional” and prices under control to cement economic recovery.
House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda, in a statement, said the upgrade signals that the country’s macrofiscal framework is “very strong.”
Quoting AMRO, a regional macroeconomic surveillance organization, Salceda said “the driver for this growth is really the reopening of the economy.”
“We have very good cooks in the economic kitchen, headed by Finance Secretary [Benjamin] Diokno. Should the threat of global economic troubles materialize, we should perform better than the world, as we did during PGMA’S [Gloria Macapagal-arroyo] management of the global financial crisis,” Salceda said.
“e real trouble remains inflation and a disproportionate response to Covid-19 infections. Economic recovery is typically accompanied by an upward demand shock. But what’s different now is that we have an external military issue that’s affecting global supply chains. e Philippines must be ready to adapt,” he added.
According to Salceda, the country’s growth prospects “are contingent on a proportional Covid-19 response.”
“Lockdowns at early stages are good. Lockdowns at this late stage, when the virus is becoming endemic, are bad—costly and ineffective. We need a more proportional, more rational approach. at means protecting the vulnerable through vaccination, continuing the mask mandate in enclosed spaces, and preparing our preventative health care units such as BHWS [baradespite
ngay healthcare workers]. Of course, boosting healthcare capacity above all is the most important intervention,” he said.
“I would say the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau will be crucial right now, as well as our health facilities management o ces,” Salceda added.
If the government overreacts on the basis of cases alone, Salceda said it will only “sabotage” the country’s own economic recovery.
“A proportional response is not a lax response. It simply means the proper response, the response that will work considering the costs and the bene ts,” he said.
Meanwhile, Salceda said that he has submitted to the emerging supermajority coalition’s leadership a package of interventions under the “Bayan Bangon Muli” package.
In his note to the next leadership of the House of Representatives, Salceda explained that “Government must ensure a rstdo-no-harm policy.”
“That means interventions must remain market-oriented, and government e orts must be focused on increasing constrained supply rather than imposing price restrictions. On the price side, high prices per se may not necessarily be unjust, so we have to have price abuse prevention mechanisms, instead of brute-force price ceilings. This bill provides the president marketoriented but abuse-preventing powers within prudent limits and periods,” said the lawmaker.
Salceda proposed to include in the Bayan Bangon Muli package the anti-hoarding powers, powers to incentivize production, powers to provide loans and guarantees to suppliers of essential goods, anti-price-gouging powers, motu proprio powers to investigate market abuse, transport emergency powers, and power to mobilize uniformed personnel to expedite programs and projects.
Under his proposal, the BBM bill will have a validity of 18 months.
“Within those 18 months, the President can invoke certain powers, the duration of which he can decide, as long as it falls within those 18 months.”