THE country’s socioeconomic chief has presented a list of structural reform options that can be crafted as several bills to help further build the country’s health and economic resilience during the “new normal.”
Karl Kendrick Chua, National Economic and Development Authority acting secretary, also said during the Manila Times virtual forum yesterday there is a need to re-prioritize the 2021 and 2022 budget and rethink everything following the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.
“(In the) resiliency stage, we have two instruments, the budget and the structural reforms, and we intend to align the last few years of this administration to making the Philippines much stronger to address any shocks in the future,” Chua said.
“All of these (structural reforms) are what we propose to do in the next 12 months. Some of them are easy to do, some are more difficult. But we think these are the basic elements for us to be able to survive, and do better in the new normal,” he added.
Chua said the government will prioritize the Build, Build, Build program, as it has the strongest impact on growth, jobs, reduction of poverty, and has multiplier effects on the economy; as well as the development of digital infrastructure.
He also said health, housing, water and sanitation are the basic foundations of a new normal.
“We will put a bit more money in the budget to support all these, and some more flexibility so that at any given time, if there is a second wave, for instance, or a third wave, we can respond to that immediately,” Chua said.
On the proposed structural reforms, under health, Chua cited the further development of health infrastructure, production of pharma-grade medical supplies, strategic inventory of medicines and equipment, universal health care implementation, research and development, virology center, and pharma development center.
Under agriculture, reforms listed by Chua include productivity enhancement and the consolidation of land management to enhance production and food security, and a progressive idle land tax.
On digitalization, Chua cited online transaction with government and private sector.
“We want everything to be digitalized in the government so hopefully in the coming years, no one will need to go to a government office to transact, everything will be online,” Chua said.
On investments, Chua mentioned the need for the passage of three economic liberalization bills, and to modernize investment promotion agencies to proactively seek out the desired investors and give tailor-fitted incentives.
Under businesses, Chua said the government wants to improve the ease of credit, implement regulatory reforms to improve competition, and the development of the industry 4.0 — innovation, digitalization and entrepreneurship.
“All of these don’t really cost too much money, but they can radically make the economy much stronger and can provide new opportunities for growth,” Chua said.
“Then we are going to focus on education, social protection, labor, public transport, logistics and disaster response to include virus or health-related disaster response,” he added.
