Vax funds for procurement enough for 2021

MANILA – The government’s aim to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic remains on track as officials assured there are enough funds to buy vaccines this year.

Citing figures from the Department of Finance, Senator Panfilo Lacson said the government has a PHP5-billion surplus to achieve population protection this year.

“At PHP446 per dose including logistical costs, we will need PHP52.3 billion. We have already secured PHP57.3 billion through borrowings, so we have a surplus of PHP5 billion for herd immunity,” Lacson said during the Senate Committee of the Whole hearing Tuesday on the government’s Covid-19 response and national immunization program.

“So money is not the problem here. Ang kailangan na lang dito maka-procure ng vaccines at may rollout (We just need to focus more on procuring the vaccines and rolling them out),” he added.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III agreed that “the bottom line is the rollout” of vaccines.

DOF Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, however, said about PHP25 billion must be secured for the vaccination of children aged 12 to 17.

“There is second horizon we need to look at. We might need an allocation of about PHP25 billion to cover the inoculation of children aged 12 years old and above,” he said.

Lacson said what Dominguez cited will be for 2022 yet so achieving population protection is achievable within this year.

Over the past year and a half of the pandemic, Dominguez said the government never ran out of cash resources notwithstanding the large spending bill incurred because of the health crisis.

“We covered the deficit with urgent borrowing mainly with our development partners offering us very good rates and terms. Despite the temporary surge in borrowings, our debt levels remain manageable and we did not lose our exemplary credit rating. This is due to the fiscal prudence and the tax and structural reforms which we together implemented since 2016,” he said.

Dominguez said high credit ratings enabled the country to access emergency financing at lower rates, tight spreads and longer repayment periods.

He insisted debts and borrowings are at a manageable level.

“This year, our budget gap is expected to widen to PHP1.6 trillion, about 36 percent higher than last year. This is about 9.3 percent of our GDP (gross domestic product). The larger budget deficit will require PHP3.1 trillion in borrowings in 2021 roughly the same level as last year. These borrowings will be sourced mainly from the local market at around 75 percent and 26 percent from abroad,” he said.

He said the country’s total debt as a share of the GDP is expected to rise to 58.7 percent in 2021.

“This figure was at a historic low of 39.6 percent in 2019. Despite the increase, our prudent management has given us the fiscal headroom to deal with the pandemic, thus the anticipated temporary increase in debt remains within the prescribed bounds of fiscal viability,” he said.

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. also reported that the Philippines will have 68 million free doses this year, including 44 million from the COVAX Facility.