By virtue of the $1 billion lent by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to the $450-billion global stability fund of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Philippines is now, as what the Palace definitely loves the sound of, a creditor nation.
With around $80 billion in foreign reserves, the country definitely does have the resources to be a contributor to the IMF which will be in the form of a loan that will earn interest.
More significant would be Noynoy’s bragging rights of the country infusing the same amount of contribution to the IMF fund as that of Malaysia and Thailand, both of which are way ahead of the country in terms of economic development.
Also there is that Palace claim that the status of a creditor nation will improve the country’s image among foreign investors with regard to the stability of the local economy.
The move would have been a master stroke, if not for the poverty situation in the country and the inequity in the distribution of wealth that had intensified during Noynoy’s watch.
The recent Forbes list had 15 Filipinos considered as billionaires in dollar terms, which is unprecedented and showed that the rich are becoming richer, while various recent surveys showed that the hunger and poverty incidences among Filipinos have grown during the past two years that Aquino has been president.
The Aquino presidency is also being assailed for its pro-rich bias in that most of the policies it has crafted are all geared toward promoting big business and making them prosper.
Letting businesses set prices without any intervention from government is among the chief factors for the growing economic inequity. Access to utilities such as electricity and water and other basic services is fast becoming a privilege of the rich because of the progressively rising cost of basic services that in turn contributes to improving the lives only of those who can afford to pay.
Those who are left behind are getting the crumbs in the form of the P1,500 or so a month doleouts from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of Noynoy the funds for which are being proposed to be raised to P45 billion next year or almost the same amount of the IMF contribution.
The amount would have been more valuable if lent to Filipinos as start up funds for small businesses, which according to government figures will have multiplier effects on the economy since small firms are the biggest employers in the countryside if not also in the urban areas.
Instead, the $450-billion IMF fund, into which the Philippines contributed, will be lent to countries whose economies have weakened as a result of greed among their respective big businesses and the money borrowed by IMF member countries would likely be relent to these same greedy big businesses as rescue packages.
Thus the Philippines, a poor country, is in effect contributing its share to propagating the practice of rich countries to subsidize their major corporations which are collapsing as a result of their greed for bigger profits.
What it amounts to is that the Aquino administration has too much money to lend to profit-hungry big businesses here and abroad and not enough for Filipinos who are crying for government assistance to help them start up a business.
No wonder 15 Filipinos became billionaires in just two years of Noynoy while 5 million Filipinos lost their jobs based on the government statistics.