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 Asian Development Bank (ADB) economists as of April 20.
The Philippine per capita budget surpassed only that of Cambodia (at $127.39), Myanmar (at $1.33) and Laos (at $0.16).
The ADB data also showed that Singapore has the biggest 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 Timor Leste ($197.17).
Although the Philippines has a war chest of P834.9 billion ($16.5B) across five measures to contain the pandemic—the sixth biggest in the region—dividing the amount among an estimated 106.7 million Filipinos, which was its population as of 2018, has shrunk the per capita budget considerably.
Thailand has the biggest COVID-19 budget at $70.1 billion, followed by Indonesia’s $57.1 billion, Singapore’s $42.4 billion, Malaysia’s $31.2 billion and Vietnam’s $23.2 billion.
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 intended to provide liquidity, encourage credit creation by the financial sector, and directly fund households, businesses, and local governments amid the pandemic.