With money to spend, government must no longer rely on donations but should instead “bid for the vaccines” to address the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, aired this appeal in reaction to the results of the January Labor Force Survey indicating a “quarter-on-quarter” increase in unemployment.
“While the year-on-year figures were no surprise, the January Labor Force Survey (LFS) results indicated a quarter-on-quarter increase in unemployment, from 3.8 million to 4.0 million,” said Salceda.
He said this clearly indicates that the country is “not yet out of the woods”.
“I have repeated this point since last year. Let’s bid for the vaccines because we have the money, and we need not rely on donations,” the veteran lawmaker said.
“Quick vaccine rollout is the best way to cover lost economic ground. As more people are able to go out and the velocity of money recovers, we can then effectively pump-prime the economy with more government spending,” Salceda stated.
The Philippine Statistics Authority website indicated that unemployment rate stood at 8.7 percent in January 2021, which is the same in October, 2020. Pre-COVID 19 unemployment rate in January, 2020 was lower at 5.3 percent.
In a press statement issued Tuesday, March 9, Salceda attributed “the decline unemployment partly to the failure of credit stimulus.
He cited three causes for this opinion.
“First, banks continued to be risk-averse, choosing to put its money in trading operations over lending,” said Salceda.
According to him the executive branch has also failed to release “in timely fashion” the Bayanihan 2 equity infusion for government financial institutions.
“Third, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released stricter guidelines on lending, despite its own expansionary monetary policy.” ”Moving forward, our vaccination program must become more ambitious. I welcome Secretary Galvez’s pronouncement recently that the Philippines will be willing to pay more to get vaccines earlier,” said Salceda.