WB official lauds RP economic performance

Outgoing World Bank country director Robert Vance Pulley commended yesterday the country’s economic performance for the last three years.

Speaking at the government-run Radyo ng Bayan, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said that Pulley made such commendation on the Philippine economy during his farewell call to the President in Malacañang.

Pulley who ended his tour of duty in the country formally bade goodbye to President Arroyo the other day and gave her a copy of the latest World Bank assessment on the Philippine economy.

Pulley said the latest gross domestic product (GDP) growth figure of 6.4 percent was "better than the expected" five percent growth for the period.

Pulley also said that "It is particularly impressive that the Arroyo administration is making a commitment of this magnitude – more than P5 billion, aimed at improving poor people’s lives through community-driven development."

Pulley said the Philippines made "one of the fastest turnarounds in World Bank history" by becoming second best in the region utilizing portfolio assistance despite inheriting one of the worst performing portfolios in Southeast Asia.

Pulley said the utilization rate of WB loans and assistance to the Philippines under the Arroyo administration improved from 10 percent to 22 percent.

He cited this was only a shade lower than that of China’s 23 percent.

Bunye disclosed that President Arroyo commended the outgoing WB official as a "friend of the Philippines."

Bunye noted that one of the major support that World Bank has given to the Philippines, during the term of Pulley, was the grant of the $716,000 assistance for the implementation of the electronic procurement program to reduce the incidence of graft and corruption in various government transactions.

This grant came from the Asian Financial Crisis Fund of the ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Trust Fund administered by the World Bank in the implementation of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.