BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
PRESS Secretary Jesus Dureza yesterday said
the country does not have to secure emergency loans from the
International Monetary Fund to ride out the global financial
crisis.
"Graduate na tayo from IMF conditionalities…
Marami silang conditionalities. Kung under IMF tayo, you are
in the ICU so to speak, pero tayo palabas na tayo diyan. Tapos
na tayo, we are already in good health at sana huwag tayong
bumalik doon sa problema na iyan," he said.
Last week, the IMF said it was ready to
lend to countries hit by the global credit crunch and was
reactivating an emergency financing mechanism first used in
the 1990s Asian crisis.
"We are ready to answer any demand by
countries," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said,
adding that no country is immune from the crisis.
Dureza said President Arroyo will raise the
global financial crisis at the 7th Asia-Europe Meeting in
Beijing on October 24 and 25.
Dureza said Arroyo is expected to initiate
discussions on "what actually happened in the financial market
and the turmoil so that we will not be able to repeat the same
mistake."
He stressed that because the Philippines is
a part of the global community affected by what is happening
in the US, Filipinos should prepare for the worst, even if the
country’s economy remains strong and stable.
He said one way of preparing for the worst
is the immediate passage of the proposed P1.4 trillion 2009
budget which was approved early morning Saturday by the House
of Representatives.
Dureza is hoping that the Senate would act speedily on the
proposed budget as it would help weather the financial storm.