The World Bank believes it has the answers. The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s banner story today shows a list of measures the International Finance Corp., the private sector development arm of the World Bank, is urging the government to adopt.
Do you agree with the IFC? It says the Philippines is weak especially in the areas of starting a business, property registration and ability to access credit.
In a nutshell, IFC suggests that the government should:
The proposal on the credit information bureau is particularly interesting because at the moment, lenders are keeping their own counsel on who is creditworthy or not. Why would they share that kind of information with their peers, no matter what they say publicly about “working together for the good of the industry.” The absence of a good database on potential borrowers makes it easier or bad borrowers to get a loan and raises banks’ past due loans.
Who is the end loser here? The banks to a certain extent because their image gets hurt, but more so good borrowers who get higher interest rates and a longer time to process loans because of more documentary requirements and credit history checking. At least, that’s how bankers explain the situation.
Unfortunately, getting that reform done will depend on Congress, where the road to an important bill can twist and turn like a supertyphoon dancing with another supertyphoon.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
chat, i’ve heard about this too and this has been corroborated countless of times from many different sources. what’s with the fire equipment suppliers, huh? how much were they asking, around 15%?
December 20th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
atlas_shrugged, how i wish local chief executives will see how simple it really is to get votes–efficiency, good services (roads, water, electricity, schools). di ba? just imagine how much better the economy would be if a massive improvement on a huge scale can be made to make it simpler and easier to incorporate! are you based here in Manila? which LGU do you think does this best, based on your experience?
December 18th, 2007 at 7:25 am
In the documentary film “call of the entrepreneur” the proponents basically expressed that a government needs only to encourage, support and protect entrepreneurs and most every economic problem of a nation can be solved. Entrepreneurs, by nature, can handle the details and obstacles as long as they are not restricted by red tape and whatnot.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:54 am
IFC is very right. Our leaders should start less politics and buckle down to business. We are a happy people and what makes us sad is too much politics that breeds corruption and more politics and more greed and corruption.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:18 am
i think thats right .i think it’s thr time for the congress to drop a bill that wuold enhance the living status of the filipino… its time to stop politics … a agree about the recommendation of ifc it would really work…
what we need is responsible gov’t that cares for the masses…