Press Release
October 9, 2009

PROMOTE MARKET STABILITY TO SHIELD RP ECONOMY
FROM SHOCKS - ANGARA

Istanbul, Turkey - Senator Edgardo J. Angara urged Congress to pass pending financial reforms in order to promote market stability and shield the Philippine economy from external shocks, especially with the global economy still in a vulnerable recovering state from the financial crisis.

The Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund held their annual meeting this week in Istanbul to discuss the work of their respective institutions, including the Philippines.

The two-day plenary session is preceded by the ministerial-level meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the IMF's policy-guiding body, and the Development Committee, a joint IMF-World Bank forum. These annual meetings are held to encourage dialogue among business leaders, high-level government delegates, the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund officials, and representatives of civil society regarding major financial and development challenges confronting the international community.

"Because the annual meetings bring such a large number of member country officials together, they provide an opportunity for consultations and a chance to evaluate our own banking and financial reform agenda," said Angara.

RP's economic history proves that the Philippine financial sector is highly vulnerable to external shocks, thus, the need to achieve market stability in the financial sector to shield the economy from booms-and-busts.

Angara, former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions, said policy reforms on mobilizing domestic resources and strengthening the capital market should be a priority of Congress.

"Philippine economy has strengthened. Our GDP has grown impressively, in fact the biggest since the 1990s. We have tamed inflation at a record low, contained our fiscal deficit and continue to benefit from strong OFW remittances. We must vigorously pursue a financial reform agenda, if we hope to further strengthen our capital market and ensure our sustained growth," he said.

The Senate recently passed the Pre-Need Code, principally sponsored by Angara. The law establishes rules to govern the operations of pre-need firms and provide protection to consumers. The Real Estate Investment Trust Act (REIT), which injects liquidity and stability to the property market by allowing investments in income-producing real estate, was also passed.

Angara is currently pushing for the Corporate Recovery Act, which seeks to improve insolvency procedures to make the debt recovery process more efficient and give insolvent companies a chance to recover from liquidation.

He is also working towards amending the charter of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to adapt international best practices in banking supervision and other measures that will strengthen the regulatory and supervisory powers of the BSP over banks and other financial institutions. The goal is to provide better protection for depositors' interests and to avoid losses of the public funds.

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