Philippines Virus Response Hits $23b, Tax Hike Eyed: Dominguez

Philippines could raise taxes in 1-2 years to help fund virus response measures which have totaled $23b so far, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez says in phone interview with CNBC on Wednesday.

• Government has allotted $6b to support vulnerable in communities and $650m for frontliners and Covid-19 containment
• Monetary responses also helping provide $16.4b in support to economy
• Total virus response of $23b is about 5%-6% of GDP
• Tax hike will not be immediate plan, government to first rely on multilateral lenders and commercial markets for funds
  • Philippines negotiating for $5.7b in loans with ADB, WB and AIIB, will tap commercial markets after
  • Funding plan is for April and May
• Debt could rise to 46% of GDP, country has a lot of headroom
• Dominguez sees zero growth to 0.8% contraction in GDP this year
• NOTE:Philippine Debt To Hit 44% of GDP as Virus Cuts Growth: Moody’s

To contact the reporter on this story:
Claire Jiao in Manila at cjiao5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Cecilia Yap at cyap19@bloomberg.net

Ditas Lopez

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