NEDA urges Congress for immediate passage of economic recovery program

NATIONAL Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Acting Secretary Karl Chua on Wednesday urged Congress to immediately pass the economic recovery program.

“We started in March with the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act where we provided emergency response to help those who were affected [by the pandemic] especially our frontliners, the poor, and those who lost their jobs through the Social Amelioration and the Small Business Subsidy,” Chua said during the Pre-SONA Virtual Forum.

“For our second phase, we are currently in talks with Congress for the immediate passage of our economic recovery program so that we can continue providing support to the healthcare sector because when our people have the confidence in our healthcare sector, they can go back to work,” he said.

Aside from the healthcare sector, Chua said other priorities in the economic recovery program was sustaining the country’s food supply and the Build, Build, Build program.

“Our second priority in our economic recovery program is to sustain our food supply because this is one of our basic needs. Our third priority is the Build, Build, Build program which will help in employment or job prospects. one of these is digital infra and the fast-track implementation of the national ID. These are some of the programs we are pushing for under the economic recovery program,” said Chua.