WB president James D. Wolfensohn in a meeting in Washington with President Arroyo, lauded the Philippine governments effort to push through with economic reforms despite the current global economic downturn.
At the same time, Wolfensohn noted the need for the Arroyo administration to strengthen public expenditures and financial management, while beefing up public revenues and ensuring fiscal sustainability.
The WB, one of the countrys biggest multilateral creditor, has always been concerned about containing the budget deficit which last year ballooned to P136.1 billion from the programmed deficit of just P62 billion.
The WB, like other creditors, are urging government where it has extensive exposure to tame their budget gap. It also frowns on governments tack of trimming expenditures to cut the deficit.
The Bank said keeping the budget deficit on course is critical to restoring investor confidence in the Philippines.
In the Washington meeting, Mrs. Arroyos economic team led by Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho assured the WB of governments commitment to keep this years budget deficit target.
The WB representatives and some of the members of Arroyos economic team led the signing of several loans granted by the Bank for various infrastructure projects.