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.