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Monday, December 14, 2020 Vol. 16 No. 67
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 20 pages |
IN 2021—BSP SURVEY ‘COVID RESTRICTIONS TO CURB HOOPLA, BUT NOT POLL SPENDING’ By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario
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OBILITY restrictions may limit the usual fanfare seen during elections, but this will not crimp election spending, which could give the economy a boost starting next year, according to local experts. Election spending, they said, will be driven by the creativity of politicians in their bid to win the votes of their constituents in the 2022 polls. Many politicians, for instance, could spend more on social media and even traditional media because of the limitations in mobility, Ateneo de Manila University School of
Churchgoers observe physical distancing as they attend Sunday mass outside the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila. As part of the slow, cautious return to normalcy, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has allowed religious gatherings in areas under general community quarantine as long as these fill up only up to 30 percent of venues’ capacity. ROY DOMINGO
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By Bianca Cuaresma
@BcuaresmaBM
FTER a record-high unemployment rate at the height of the pandemicinduced lockdowns, Filipinos should expect more job opportunities at the opening of next year, as more firms indicated willingness to start increasing their employment size in the first quarter of 2021. See “Firms,” A2
PESO exchange rates n US 48.0670
Government Dean Ronald U. Mendoza told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail. “Election-related spending typically gives the economy a slight boost, as some sectors, including SMEs, may benefit from the increased spending. It is not yet clear how this will matter under a pandemic situation—as typical spending on campaign materials may not be seen as effective when there is far less mobility,” Mendoza said. “Hence some types of spending—such as social media, radio and television campaigning —might be even more popular, considering that most are still immobile under the pandemic,” he added. Continued on A5
10-month debt payments nearly twice 2019’s–BTr By Bernadette D. Nicolas
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@BNicolasBM
OVERNMENT’S debt payments from January to October nearly doubled this year compared to the same period in 2019. Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed the government’s debt service bill for the 10-month period ballooning to P1.16 trillion from P583.42 billion in the comparable period a year ago.
This was already above government’s programmed debt service this year at 1.005 trillion. In 2019, government’s debt payments only amounted to P842.449 billion. For the January-to-October period, amortization tripled to P826.86 billion from only P268.955 billion a year ago while interest payments rose to P335.044 billion, which is 6.54 percent higher than last year’s P314.465 billion. Continued on A4
A set of Nativity figurines made of plastic resin, selling for P2000 per set, is on display in a shop in Dapitan, Manila. The vendor reported a decline in sales this pandemic year, as the government struggles to rev up an economy battered by what is called the world’s longest virus-induced lockdown. NONIE REYES
n japan 0.4613 n UK 63.9099 n HK 6.2013 n CHINA 7.3431 n singapore 35.9998 n australia 36.2089 n EU 58.3533 n SAUDI arabia 12.8158
Source: BSP (December 11, 2020)