Imee urges freeze on country's debt payments to boost COVID-19 fund

The Philippine government should push for a temporary suspension of the country's debt payments to allocate more funds for the social amelioration program amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency, Senator Imee Marcos said on Monday.

"Dapat bigyan ng palugit ang mga bansang mas maliit ang ekonomiya at mas mahina ang pamamaraan para sa pagpapagamot ng kanilang mamamayan, lalo na ang mga bansa sa Asya at Africa," Marcos, who chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, said in a statement.

“President Duterte should lead the charge and immediately initiate urgent international dialogue and cooperation in dealing with the economic damage being wrought by COVID-19. There can be no doubt that a united and global effort will be necessary to protect our employees and businesses, to find a pathway to economic recovery," she added in a separate message.

Marcos underscored that the P451 billion budget for the interest payments on the country’s debts under the General Appropriations Act of 2020 could be used to augment the cash aid to Filipino families who are bearing the brunt of the enhanced community quarantine.

The off-budget payments of P582 billion to amortize the principal amount of the country's debts could also be "reserved for cash aid," she added.

The call for a debt moratorium echoed the World Economic Forum’s call for international cooperation in handling the backlash of the COVID-19 crisis, Marcos said.

According to the Bureau of Treasury, the national government had an outstanding domestic and external debt of over P8.1 trillion, as of February 2020.

Last week, the Department of Finance said that it planned to raise $23 billion or P1.17 trillion to fuel the country's fight against COVID-19 and address its underlying impact on the economy.

As of April 9, it was reported that the gov't has so far identified a total of P568.463 billion from unreleased appropriations from both the 2020 General Appropriations Act and continuing appropriations under last year’s budget; collection from GOCCs; and from a repurchase agreement with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“We are very active for negotiations for total loans of $5.7 billion first with Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) since they have the lowest interest rates to us," Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

“After filling this up, we will most likely go to commercial markets,” he added. — DVM, GMA News