By Angela Lorraine Celis
The Philippines was able to secure external financing support for the country’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response amounting to $23.4 billion, or P1.17 trillion.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the COVID-19-related external financing was secured from March 16, 2020 to December 7, 2021.
Domingues said that of the said amount, $21 billion or P1.05 trillion, is for the general budget support to cover up for the drop in collections.
While the remaining $2.4 billion or P120 billion is for COVID-19 response and recovery projects, including the procurement of vaccines.
“Out of the $21 billion budget support financing contracted by the government, a total of $19.8 billion has been disbursed to the government since March of last year to help bridge the budget gap,” Dominguez said.
“Meanwhile, of the $2.4 billion grant and loan financing contracted in support of various COVID-19 related projects, about $1.2 billion has been disbursed to the government,” he added.
According to Dominguez, these projects include the procurement of laboratory equipment, medical supplies and vaccines as well as interventions that will address the impact of the pandemic on poor communities.
“These are being implemented by the relevant agencies involved in our pandemic response,” Dominguez said.
“So the bulk really of the funding for the vaccines has been actually to buy the vaccines, and the way we financed that is we borrowed the money from Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and World Bank,” he added.
Latest data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed that it has released P690.26 billion as of end-September for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response programs of various implementing agencies.
Of the said amount, the government obligated P637.97 billion, or 92.4 percent, and disbursed P570.04 billion (89.4 percent).
Additional releases during the third quarter were charged from the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA) following the expiration of the validity of funds under the Bayanihan 1 and 2 laws.
These include the payment for the COVID-19 special risk allowance of public and private health workers, purchase of COVID-19 vaccine ancillaries, procurement of RT-PCR testing kits and renewal of contracts for hiring of healthcare professionals, among others, the agency said.
Under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2, agencies have obligated P204.07 billion (95.3 percent) out of the P214.12 billion allotment released.
This leaves a balance of P10.05 billion, of which only P4.56 billion can still be utilized by implementing agencies until December 31, 2021. The rest was reverted to the general fund, following the expiration of the special appropriations and 2019 continuing appropriations last June 30, 2021.
Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or Bayanihan 1, agencies have obligated a total of P369.08 billion from the P387.93 billion allotment released to them.
The DBM said funds amounting to P10.10 billion, which were charged against the 2020 GAA, are still valid for disbursement until the end of this year.
Other releases outside the Bayanihan laws have also reached P88.21 billion, a large chunk of which was charged from the F2021 GAA amounting to P81.75 billion, the DBM said.
Agencies have until December 31, 2021 to obligate and disburse the remaining P23.38 billion and P42.84 billion, respectively.
