WB wants RP fiscal reforms to benefit more people

DAVAO CITY – World Bank Country Director for the Philippines Joachim Von Amsberg said the government is on the right track with its fiscal reforms.

However, Von Amsberg also said the "real problem now is how to translate these fiscal reforms into fiscal benefits for more people."

Von Amsberg arrived here yesterday for the fifth meeting of the Mindanao Working Group, an umbrella organization of the various international funding agencies that have initiated projects in the largest island of the Philippine archipelago.

The World Bank official said that, with government having reduced the budget deficit and the country’s debts over the last two years, the fiscal reforms of the Arroyo administration are on the right track.

He also said the peso has strengthened over the past few months against the US dollar, bringing it to the level it was at six years ago.

However, such fiscal progress should be sustained and should also bring about social results and infrastructure, Amsberg added.

He said the government should work on the fiscal reforms in such a way that they will generate more investments in the Philippines.

Von Amsberg also expressed confidence that the reforms undertaken by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the collection of taxes will be improved and sustained.

The Arroyo administration has been implementing a package of fiscal reforms, including the reduction of foreign borrowings and the budget deficit, as a means of providing more services to the people.