(Eagle News) — To support economic managers in crafting a “bounce-back plan” for the Philippine economy, the Department of Finance (DOF) is recruiting highly-competent and committed individuals that would help the economy to recover once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito Lambino II said the DOF’s Strategy, Economics and Results Group (SERG), which he heads, is building its team to support state economic managers in coming up with this recovery and stimulus plan for the Philippine economy.
“There is so much we all need to do to help each other get back on our feet. A crucial part of our national recovery effort is crafting and implementing a bounce-back plan for our economy,” Lambino said.
“SERG is building up its team that will support our economic managers in making this happen.”
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said this economic bounce-back plan is among the four pillars of the Duterte administration’s socioeconomic strategy against COVID-19.
These four pillars also include the emergency support for the poor and other vulnerable groups, continuously mobilizing resources needed to fight the pandemic, and fiscal and monetary actions to fund emergency initiatives and keep the economy afloat amid the global health crisis.
This new set of government priorities will require around P1.45 trillion-worth of fiscal, budgetary and monetary measures, of which a significant portion or around 1.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), will go to emergency subsidies for poor and low-income households plus other vulnerable groups suffering the most from the pandemic’s economic hit.
Dominguez said the Duterte administration’s flagship projects under the “Build, Build, Build” program will continue and will not be downgraded, as this will primarily “fuel our bounce back plan.”
Lambino said the COVID-19 pandemic has affected various aspects of Filipinos’ lives—our families and communities, places of work and industries, and the Philippine economy overall.
He said the work of the would-be recruits includes helping provide relief to poor and low-income families through programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) such as the Emergency Subsidy Program (ESP). They also have to think of ways on how to create more jobs, and how employees of small businesses can keep their jobs.
-Strategic thinkers needed-
All of these would require raising resources from better expenditure management, improved tax policy, better tax administration, effective debt management, and other innovative and equitable means to share the costs of recovery, the DOF explained.
“To achieve these objectives, we need a combination of technical specialists and effective communicators: people who listen well and engage effectively with all kinds of stakeholders; build coalitions for change; recast complex jargon into popular language; while also bringing ideas of stakeholders to the attention of policymakers,” Lambino said.
“The government needs highly competent, compassionate, and committed individuals who are strategic thinkers, who can communicate well, and work with teams to help our country rise above this present crisis,” he said. Interested individuals may find application guidelines on the DOF Facebook page.
Amid the spread of the disease, the economic team of the Duterte administration is working hard to raise additional funds by using an arsenal of fiscal and monetary tools and tapping concessional financing options from multilateral institutions to keep the economy afloat.
(Eagle News Service)