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Philippines confident of

good grades from IMF

MANILA: The Philippines is confident of obtaining good grades from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in an ongoing assessment of the country's reform programme tied to a 1.4-billion-dollar loan facility, officials said on Sunday.

"We feel that most of their concerns have been addressed," Finance Secretary Jose Pardo said, nothing that an IMF mission conducting the study appeared satisfied by assurances that the government would enact structural reform measures to maximize growth.

Among the measures are proposed legislation in Congress that would restructure the energy sector and strengthen the country's securities law to better protect investors from fraud.

Pardo said, the government has promised the IMF panel that the measures would be put in place before June.

The review is tied to a standby loan facility entered into by the Philippines to help in cope with the effects of the financial crisis that struck the region in 1997. About 700 million dollars remain untapped.

"We expect the IMF to demand prior actions concerning those important reform measures before we can draw (from the facility)," a source privy to the review said.

The IMF and the Philippines still have to finalise agreements on new macroeconomic targets for this year, the source noted.

Pardo said he was optimistic that the IMF team will agree on a budget deficit target of 62.5 billion pesos (1.5 billion dollars) for the year and gross national product growth of 4.5-5.5 percent.ÑAFP