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Friday, March 31, 2006
Foreign bank exec tells compatriots not to meddle in RP politics (10:38 a.m.)
MANILA -- A World Bank (WB) official told the Philippines' international development partners not to interfere with the political debates in the country.
Joachim von Amsberg, WB country director for the Philippines, said it is not easy to miss the intense political debate in the country for the past few months.
"While we need to be aware of this political process and its impact on the policies and outcomes that we care about, as international development partners, we absolutely have to stay out of such political processes," Von Amsberg said in his opening statement at the 2006 Philippines Development Forum in Tagaytay City.
He said the current political crisis underscores the importance of a sincere dialogue and a search for a solution to the country's pressing problems.
Von Amsberg said the implementation last year of macroeconomic policies despite the political crisis shows that core policies could be protected from partisan politics.
He cited the case of the expanded value-added tax (e-VAT), which he said, restored market confidence and veered the country away from “a very real risk of a serious crisis to a more comfortable situation in which deficit and debt ratios are declining, and reduced borrowing costs create the prospect of reversing, in the medium term, the trend of declining spending for public service delivery.” (JMR) |
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