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Business leaders' group push for passage of ARISE bill amid technical recession


A group of top-level business managers reiterated its support for the passage of the proposed P1.3-trillion stimulus package to aid the economy towards recovery as the Philippines falls into a “technical recession.”

“A stimulus package like the ARISE that was endorsed by more than 40 local and foreign business groups, supported by 5 cabinet secretaries and approved by more than 90% of the House membership is really needed for the economy to bounce back at the soonest possible time,” Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) president Francis Lim said.

The Philippine economy as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) — the value of goods and services produced by a nation in a given period — shrank 16.5% in the second quarter, the worst performance on record since 1981.

The negative GDP in the April to June period has brought the country to a “technical recession,” the first time since 1991.

A recession means that a country posted two consecutive quarters of negative GDP. A “technical recession,” on the other hand, is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP but is mainly caused by an isolated event — in this case a pandemic — rather than an underlying economic problem.

“We should not also leave any stone unturned to regain public confidence as our economy is principally driven by domestic consumption,” Lim said.

MAP is among the more than 40 business organizations that expressed support for the Accelerate Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE) bill “to fight the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, protect jobs and help job-creating businesses, especially MSMEs, which employ more than 62% of our workforce.”

The ARISE bill was approved on the third and final reading in the lower chamber in June.

House Economic Affairs Committee chair AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Representative Sharon Garin, Albay Representative Joey Salceda, and Marikina City Representative Stella Luz Quimbo authored and sponsored the ARISE bill, which proposes a package of reforms, amounting to P1.3 trillion in total, to help address the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis in the country.

The measure consists of P688 billion in new spending on the first year to help address the economic impact of COVID-19 and another of P650 billion in three years for the enhanced “Build, Build, Build” program aimed at creating 1.5 million jobs.

National Economic and Development Authority Acting Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the stimulus plan is not fundable due to limited funding sources.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez on Thursday reiterated the economic managers’ stance that the cost of the stimulus package should only be at P140 billion as he cautioned against increasing the government’s budget gap further.

MAP’s Lim, however, said, “We have been saving for the rainy days and now is the time to spend.”

“Funding for ARISE can  be staggered and partly supported by borrowings which, under a Supreme Court decision, can be done,” he said.

Members of the House of Representatives pushing for the ARISE are proposing to stagger the implementation of the measure as an “acceptable” compromise. 

Proponents of ARISE are likewise proposing to stagger in three stages the P680-billion spending plan in the stimulus package bill to make it “doable.”

MAP is a 68-years-old management organization whose over 1,000 members represent a cross-section of chief executive officers, chief operating officers, and the other top management practitioners from the largest local and multinational companies operating in the Philippines.

MAP also counts some top management educators and government officials as its members. —KBK, GMA News

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