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MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines spent $ 154.39 (P7,797) per person in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fourth-smallest budget among Southeast Asian nations, according to data compiled by economists at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to April 20.
The Philippines’ per capita budget only exceeded that of Cambodia (at $ 127.39), Myanmar (at $ 1.33) and Laos (at $ 0.16).
ADB data also showed that Singapore has the highest per capita allocation of $ 7,515.16, followed by Thailand ($ 1,009.33), Malaysia ($ 990.06), Brunei ($ 411.87), Vietnam ($ 242.75), Indonesia ($ 213.33), and East Timor ($ 197.17).
Although the Philippines has a P834.9 billion ($ 16.5B) war chest in five measures to contain the pandemic, the sixth largest in the region, dividing the amount by an estimated 106.7 million Filipinos, which was its population As of 2018, it has greatly reduced the per capita budget.
Thailand has the largest COVID-19 budget at $ 70.1 billion, followed by $ 57.1 billion from Indonesia, $ 42.4 billion from Singapore, $ 31.2 billion from Malaysia and $ 23.2 billion from Vietnam.
At the bottom of the list are Cambodia ($ 2.1 billion), Timor-Leste ($ 250 million), Brunei Darussalam ($ 176.7 million), Myanmar ($ 71.5 million), and Laos ($ 1.1 million).
The ADB’s COVID-19 policy database showed that the Philippines spent its war chest on measures to provide liquidity, encourage credit creation by the financial sector, and directly finance households, businesses and local governments amid the pandemic.
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