Announcement of Consultative Group for the Philippines on December 4, 1978

. . FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE •world Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE DECEMBER 4, 1978 CONSULTATIVE GROUP FOR THE PHILIPPINES The following announcement was made on December l, 1978 by the European Office.of the World Bank in Paris: The eighth meeting of the Consultative Group for the Phil lppines was held in Paris on November 30 and December l, 1978, under the chairmanship of the World Bank. The meeting was attended by the representatives of Austra- lia,. Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Also present were representatives of the Asian Development Bank, the International Finance Cor- poration, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Coop- eration and Development, the United Nations Development Programme and the • United Nations Fund for Population Activities. The Philippine delegation was led by the Honorable Cesar Virata, the Minister of Finance . The documentation before the meeting consisted of reports on the economy and the population program prepared by the Philippine Government and the report of the International Monetary Fund. Minister Virata read a message from His Excellency Ferdinand E. Marcos, the President of the Philippines, greeting the delegates and stating that 1978 was marked by further advances in Govern~ent's effort to achieve its development goals through the vigorous implementation of the Five-Year Philippine Development Plan for 1978-82. The message also reported that the National Assembly had recently approved the 1979 budget which gave special attention to programs benefiting low income groups, especially in rural areas, and called upon trading nations to resist growing protectionism and to provide adequate market access for the exports of developing countries. Minister Virata briefed the group on the current economic situation. The Philippine economy continued to grow at over 6% per annum during 1978 despite low international prices for traditional Philippines export commodities and growing protectionism. The Minister highlighted the strong commitment of his Government to the promotion of exports through provision of industrial incentives, credit and participation ln international trade agreements. In response to these policies, non-traditional manufactured exports ·continued to grow rapidly which had nelped offset the effects of low prices of more tradi- tional commodity exports. The Minister also noted that the Government had • continued to expand the public investment program which had been specifically designed to help meet the needs of the less-developed regions of the country and the poorer segments of the population. The expansion in the investment ... I  • .. 2 - program had been supported by tax measures which had increased publ le revenues in real terms. The deterioration in the terms of trade during the last several years had, however, necessitated an increase in foreign borrowing, but the overall structure of the debt was satisfactory and the level of borrowing had been kept within manageable 1 imits. The Government was taking active steps to strengtnen the longer-term balance of payments position through the diversifi- cation and promotion of exports; an active program of oil exploration which thus far has had promising results, and the development of non-oil sources of energy. The members of the Consultative Group commended the Philippine Govern- ment for their development efforts during the past year, particularly with res- pect to continued progress in expanding the public investment program and rr~bil izlng public resources, the growth in non-traditional manufactured exports ~nd th':., 2chie,.1ement of an. export surplus in rice, the main food staple of the Philippines. The members also noted that it was important that the Government continue its policies of export promotion, careful debt management and poverty redressa 1. The Minister of Planning of the Philippines and the Chairman of the Population Commission, the Honorable Gerardo Sicat, briefed the Group on the Phi] ippines Population Planning Program. Since its inception in 1970, the Family Planning Program has had significant impact. The population growth rate dec1 ined from 3.1% during 1965-70 to 2.7% during 1971-75. Nonetheless, tbe fertility rate remains quite high. The Government during the last year • had prepared a special report on population which analyzed the current status of the Family Planning Program and made recommendations for improvements. The members of the Group commended the Government for its excellent analysis and agreed with its recommendations for strengthening the institutional support for the program. The members of the Group noted that the Philippines Government would require substantial capital inflows to finance its future development program and that a significant portion of this assistance would need to be provided on concessional terms. It was agreed that it was reasonable for the Government to seek during 1979 new commitments of official development assistance of $850 mil- l ion to $900 mi 11 ion. It was al so agreed that it was important for member governments to provide adequate access to their markets to enable the Philip- pines· to expand its manufactured exports. The Group agreed that the next meeting of the Consu 1tat i VP- Grn11!1 for the Philippines would be held in Washington in December 1979. •