THE economic team is working on an economic package and rehabilitation plan to keep small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) afloat after the quarantine period, which shut down most economic activity.

“This planned stimulus package is already being crafted and will be responsive to the uncertainties of the situation. At this point, nobody knows how bad this pandemic will get or how long it will last,” Finance Secretary Dominguez said in a statement released Tuesday.

In a Viber message, Mr. Dominguez told reporters that the draft package is expected to be ready “by the end of the week.”

“I think the package to be rolled out will focus on keeping SMEs alive and viable after the lockdown,” Finance Assistant Secretary Maria Teresa S. Habitan told BusinessWorld in a mobile phone message Tuesday.

Ms. Habitan said the package will tap the P275 billion freed up under Republic Act No. 11469, or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,” which allowed the government to realign funds from the national budget and make off-budget outlays for relief measures in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

The size the new economic package is not yet determined.

The P200 billion funding package that the government allocated for emergency subsidies to 18 million low-income households will also be sourced from the funds that could be freed up under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.

Mr. Dominguez said so far, the government has more than P200 billion at its disposal to fund the emergency subsidy, “more than P100 billion-worth of cash and cash equivalents in various GOCC (government owned and controlled corporation) accounts and another P100 billion more in various national government accounts outside the Treasury Single Account (TSA).”

“We will urgently deliver this emergency subsidy to millions of our fellow Filipinos who live day-to-day on subsistence earnings or ‘no-work, no-pay’ arrangements,” he said.

The subsidy program will provide P5,000 to P8,000 per month to some 18 million families for two months to be computed based on the rate of minimum daily wages per region. A “top-up amount or additional support” will be given to the 4.3 million families receiving an average of P2,150 a month from the government’s conditional cash transfer program.

The Department of Finance (DoF) estimates that around P97.4 billion will be needed per month for the subsidy or around P194.8 billion for two months, and additional administrative costs of around P5.1 billion.

The gvernment’s initial package was worth P27.1 billion to help affected sectors and boost the government’s ability to respond to COVID-19.

Mr. Dominguez said the government will also work on programs for businesses affected by the lockdown so the “economy can bounce back as soon as we beat this lethal virus.”

“For the moment, the government must attend to dislocated families and keep Filipino workers healthy so they are ready for the subsequent resurgence in economic activity,” he said.

So far, the government has received $3 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and a $100 million loan facility from the World Bank.

“We are in talks with the World Bank and the ADB for concessional financing of up to $2 billion. More will be financed from loan syndications from the banks,” he added. — Beatrice M. Laforga

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