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Tuesday, March 30, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 170
P23-B UNUSED BAYANIHAN P25.00 nationwide | 3 sections 22 pages |
FUND EYED FOR NEW AID
A COVID-19 isolation facility for mild to asymptomatic patients is seen in Pasay City, one of the areas to be prioritized for Covid-19 vaccines due to its spike in infections. The Pasay City General Hospital has announced that it would temporarily suspend admission of coronavirus patients, as the beds dedicated to them are fully occupied. The city government has coordinated with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to provide additional quarantine facilities under the government's Oplan Kalinga program. NONIE REYES
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By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM & Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
HE government is eyeing to tap the P23billion “unutilized” fund under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) to give aid to people affected by the new round of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and its surrounding provinces.
Citing data from the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), budget officials indicated the latest government
assistance, whether it is in cash or in kind, could benefit 22.9 million beneficiaries from NCR Plus —Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite,
FIST law takes effect after SEC, others release IRR By VG Cabuag
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@villygc
OVERNMENT agencies on Monday released the implementing rules and regulations of the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer (FIST) Act, a law that allows for the establishment of corporations to invest in or acquire non-performing assets of covered financial institutions. The Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Department of Finance, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Land Registration Authority issued the IRR of the law, paving the way for its operationalization
starting this week. “ The FIST Act is integral to the government’s economic recover y program aimed at positioning us back to growth from the setbacks brought about by the Cov id-19 pandemic,” SEC C h a i r m a n Em i l io B . A qu i no said. “The commission has always supported the passage of the FIST Act. With the implementing rules and regulations in place, we are optimistic that the law will serve its purpose of ensuring the resilience and recovery of the financial sector, which in turn will provide the much-needed support for businesses and consumers alike.”
Rizal and Bulacan. “Based on our projection, this will tide them up at least up until the time that,” Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said in an online press briefing.
Deficit impact
AVISADO said the distribution of the assistance will depend on when President Duterte approves the fund release and how efficiently it will be used by local government units. As of Monday morning, he said they were still waiting for the
President’s action on their budget proposal to help people whose employment was disrupted by the weeklong ECQ. The government placed NCR Plus under ECQ effective midnight of Monday in its attempt to slow the surge of daily new cases of Covid-19, which breached the 10,000 mark. Sought for comment on whether the distribution of financial aid would still keep the country’s budget deficit within the target, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez said: “I suppose so.” Continued on A2
NG DEBT HITS RECORD P10.4T AS MORE LOANS FUEL COVID RESPONSE
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HE national government’s outstand ing debt as of end-February this year soared to a new record high of P10.406 trillion as the government continued to borrow more money to respond to the raging Covid-19 pandemic. Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed this was up by P78.37 billion or 0.8 percent from the previous record high of P10.327 trillion as of end-January this year “due to net financing from local and external sources and currency fluctuations.” According to the Treasury, this was also a 6.2-percent increase from the end-2020 level of P9.795 trillion and a 27.4-percent spike from only P8.17 trillion as of end-February last year. Of the total debt stock, 71 percent are domestic borrowings while 29 percent came from foreign sources. The national government’s domestic debt as of end-February also reached P7.36 trillion, a 0.5-percent uptick or P37.51 billion above the end-January 2021 level of P7.33 trillion at-
tributed to net availment of domestic financing. Domestic debt as of endFebruary also surged by 35.1 percent from only P5.45 trillion a year ago. It also grew by 10 percent from only P6.69 trillion as of end-December 2020. On the other hand, external debt as of end-February this year amounted to P3.04 trillion, inching up by 1.4 percent from P3 trillion in the previous month. “For February, the increment to external debt was due to the net availment of foreig n loa n s a mou nt i ng to P14.53 billion and the P36.03-billion effect of loca l cur renc y depreciation against the dollar. Meanwhile, the net appreciation of the peso against third currencies trimmed P9.70 billion,” the Treasury said. The government’s external debt as of end-February was also a 12-percent jump from only P2.72 trillion a year ago. However, this was a 1.9-percent decline from P3.1 trillion as of end-December 2020, mainly because of debt repayment. Continued on A2
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PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.5460
n JAPAN 0.4425 n UK 66.9644 n HK 6.2487 n CHINA 7.4209 n SINGAPORE 36.0883 n AUSTRALIA 37.0746 n EU 57.2552 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9460
Source: BSP (March 29, 2021)