ILOILO – The government’s economic recovery package must be accelerated to support businesses and enable them to retain or employ new workers, according to the National Economic and Development Authority.
During the 42nd National Conference of Employers recently, socioeconomic planning secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said: “Our recovery program has been in place since last year, and implementing this will help the economy recover and businesses to get back to their feet.”
He added that the implementation of the economic recovery package is the second component of the three-pillar strategy to facilitate the economy’s recovery by six to seven percent in 2021 and return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022.
The recovery package consists of a combination of fiscal, monetary, and financial instruments is worth P2.8 trillion or 15.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Specific reforms include the recently enacted Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises or CREATE Act, which provides the largest-ever fiscal stimulus package for micro, small, and medium enterprises through a five or 10 percentage-point reduction in the regular corporate income tax rate.
Meanwhile, the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer or FIST Act will allow financial institutions to dispose of non-performing loans and assets to address the liquidity concerns of firms.
The two other pillars to enable the country’s recovery are the safe re-opening of the economy to the modified general community quarantine and the timely implementation of the vaccination program./PN
