Borrow as much as you want: WB

By EJ Dominic Fernandez
We can bring in as much as he wants.”
This was the final statement of Philippine Development Forum (PDF) co-chairperson, Motoo Konishi, World Bank Country Director for the Philippines, pertaining to the volume of funds that can be borrowed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima from the World Bank as aid for the development of the Philippines in line with the PDF programs.
Konishi was asked if the World Bank is open to increased aid for this year in line with the PDF programs, during a press conference of the PDF held at The Marco Polo Davao yesterday.
According to Konishi, “The PDF was held on perfect timing because we are finalizing the country-partnership strategy and the volume of lending on the package is based on how much Secretary Purisima will tell us he is willing to borrow or raise.”
“And we can bring in as much as he (Purisima) wants,” Konishi added, followed by a loud “Wow!” from Purisima who, however, made it clear that the PDF is not an avenue for pledging sessions or for planning for new programs, but “merely” to let multilateral and bilateral partners be aware of the direction of the Philippine Government so that investors will be able to “better” position themselves.
“PDF also aims to assure partners of the steps being adopted by the country to address constraints to investment and growth,” Purisima added. “But certainly there are indications that our development partners can in fact complement and supplement what our government is doing, and that is very important because what will happen now is instead of our development partners going their own ways without any coordination with national government, there will now be a more cohesive approach to our partnership and greater focus on development partnership for the next three years.” he said.
Konoshi complemented this clarification saying that the discussions being done in the PDF are on how the government will be able to create a “level playing field” for investors.
“This way, there will be open competition and the private sector will be interested in putting more money in the country because they know that there is fair competition and they know the kind of returns they will get from their investments,” he added.
Konoshi challenged the government to be very smart on how to structure deals to help the private sectors determine which ones are interesting investments and which ones are not.
“But I think the government is doing an excellent job in this,” Konoshi said as he pointed to the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) which had only P300 million in savings in 2011, but now has P12 billion, as an example.
Konoshi also commended the nation saying, “The Philippines is no longer the “sick man of East Asia” but the “rising tiger” because there is macroeconomic stability, and the fiscal situation of the government is sound and improving.”
Purisima also pointed out the “very Interesting” framework presented by former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Cielito Habito in one of the sessions where he said, “if you want to know if the watermelon is ripe, you have to ‘PiTiK’ it.” PiTiK stands for Presyo, Trabaho, Kita, (price, job and profit).
In the presentation, Habito reported that in 2004-2009 there was a 5.8 inflation rate in the country, but with the two years and eight month run of the Aquino Administration, the inflation went down to 3.8.
Also in the report was that from 2004-2009, there were 766,000 jobs generated, but during the two years and eight month run of the Aquino Administration, there 856,000 jobs generated.
While the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of the Philippines from 2004 – 2009 was 4.9, it increased to 5.9 during the Aquino Administration.