Malacañang on Wednesday backed the passage of an economic stimulus plan that aims to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as long as the government can afford to finance it.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque agreed with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that the cost of the stimulus package should amount to only P140 billion.
“Malacañang now wants a stimulus package that we can actually fund and that will not require too much borrowing,” Roque told the ABS-CBN News Channel.
Dominguez earlier cautioned lawmakers against the approval of measures that could not be financed and that would only increase the budget gap beyond the acceptable level.
He made the warning as he noted that several stimulus measures filed in Congress contained provisions that were “fiscally unsustainable.”
Those bills include the P1.3-trillion Accelerated Recovery and Investment Stimulus for the Economy of the Philippines or ARISE and the P1.5-trillion Covid-19 Unemployment Reduction and Economic Stimulus or CURES.
Roque said the economic stimulus package that would be passed by Congress should be fundable.
He noted that senators and congressmen were holding talks to come up with an acceptable stimulus plan for the country’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s a lot of negotiations ongoing between the Senate and the House,” Roque said.
“I think they are close to a compromise.”
The proposed ARISE Act allots P1.3 trillion for programs that would jumpstart the economy.
Lawmakers are also pushing for the passage of the proposed CURES, which would allocate funds for the key infrastructure projects in the health, education, agriculture, and local roads sectors.