How rich countries, PHL face the crisis
AS of June 2020, most G-20 member countries had committed to fiscal stimulus packages in their attempt to soften the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Out of all G-20 countries, Japan had passed the largest fiscal stimulus package that amounts to $2.18 trillion or about 40 percent of its gross domestic product.
From the Associated Press: “European Union leaders finally clinched an unprecedented €1.82 trillion [$2.1 trillion] budget and coronavirus recovery fund early Tuesday. To confront the biggest recession in its history, officials said the EU had a consensus on a 750 billion euro coronavirus fund to be sent as loans and grants to the countries hit hardest by the virus. That comes on top of the seven-year 1 trillion euro EU budget.”
Bloomberg News: “Australia’s government will pump a further A$20 billion ($14 billion) into supporting the jobs market as a surge in coronavirus infections threatens to prolong the nation’s first recession in almost three decades. The government’s signature wage subsidy program, which is currently supporting about 3.5 million workers, will be extended by six months until the end of March, albeit at a lower rate, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Tuesday. A supplement to unemployment benefits will also be extended, again at a lower rate.”
USA Today: “Congressional leaders are hoping to have another coronavirus aid package ready by the end of July, another tranche of funds to pile on to the $3 trillion already passed to counter the pandemic and its sweeping impacts on the country. But while both sides of the aisle agree more funds will be necessary to help families, workers, businesses and the national economy recover, Republicans, Democrats and the administration still have significantly different ideas of what should be included in the next package, including the possibility of another stimulus check for some Americans.”
In the Philippines, our lawmakers are crafting legislation that can help cushion the pandemic’s economic impact. The House of Representatives approved on third and final reading early last month the proposed P1.3-trillion Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE), which is expected to propel economic growth this year. At the Senate, the Bayanihan to Recover As One measure was approved on second reading before Congress went on a scheduled seven-week recess from June 5 to July 27.
Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, House Committee on Ways and Means chairman and one of the principal authors of ARISE, said the stimulus package will help protect and assist up to 15.7 million workers, create 3 million short-term jobs, and 1.5 million infrastructure jobs over three years, and help up to 5.57 million micro, small and medium enterprises.
While the Philippine stimulus package being deliberated in Congress can’t compare to the trillion dollars earmarked by rich countries, it can help lessen the pain. In its final form, however, we hope that the measure will be inclusive and equitable. Our lawmakers must find a way to help millions of poor families in the informal sector—the street vendors, solo micro entrepreneurs, homebased workers, transport workers, tuberos, small coastal fisherfolks, landless rural poor, garbage collectors, on-call service workers (repairs, etc.), domestic service workers, bit players in the entertainment industry, and tourist aides, among others.
The informals constitute at least two-thirds of the Philippine labor force. But they remain invisible to policy-makers. For example, when the distribution of the cash assistance under the social amelioration program for the poor came, the government was flooded with complaints on the exclusion of numerous informal workers and their families. What the DSWD has is the list of around 4 million beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program. We hope that Congress can formulate measures to make the informals more visible. Let’s not exclude the people who need government support the most.