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MANILA, PHILIPPINES - PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo said on Wednesday her government has spent eight billion pesos (S$237.1 million) so far this year to support the poor from surging food and energy prices.
She repeated an earlier pledge to spend up to 75 billion pesos this year 'if necessary', which she said would mean giving up Manila's bid to balance its budget this year.
'To give relief to the millions of our poor, burdened by escalating world rice prices, we have maintained (rice sold by the government) at 18.25 pesos a kilogramme. And to do that, we have spent eight billion pesos and counting,' she said.
'Balancing the budget this year would have been a nice target for our fiscal turnaround,' she said at the launch of a microcredit facility for the poor.
'We said that we will need to forego the pleasure of a balanced budget in the pressing global environment. We announced our willingness to spend as much as 75 billion pesos if necessary on social welfare. But if things improve next year, we will return to our target,' she added.
Mrs Arroyo announced on Wednesday that her government will spend a further two billion pesos in targeted support to the poor, who comprise a third of the Philippines population of 90 million.
A 500-million-peso facility to provide financial services will be offered to the families of bus drivers and conductors.
An equivalent amount will be spent converting lighting systems in government buildings to fluorescent from incandescent to save energy.
She said these would be funded from higher sales tax revenues arising from the high price of crude oil.
Half a billion pesos would be spent to upgrade government-run provincial hospitals and half a billion pesos would go to help the central island of Panay, following the destruction wrought by Typhoon Fengshen last month.
Mrs Arroyo said she was committed to 'shield our nation from the worst effects of the food and oil crisis worldwide'. -- AFP
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