Cebu Action plan enjoys support of APEC

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2015/08/14/cebu-action-plan-enjoys-support-apec-424726
• Friday, August 14, 2015

By Jeandie O. Galolo

THE FULL support of 21 member-countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) will bring about the formal launching of the Cebu Action Plan (CAP) on Sept. 11 in Lapu-Lapu City.

The ceremony will be done during the Finance Ministerial Meeting at Shangri-La Mactan Resorts and Spa, which is expected to gather 300 finance ministers from countries like United States, Japan, China, Korea, Russia and the Philippines, among others.

Department of Finance assistant secretary Teresa Habitan said the CAP is a four-pillar proposal of the Philippines. It aims to make economies in the Asia Pacific more transparent, resilient, and integrated.

Specifically, the pillars include financial integration, fiscal transparency and reforms, financial resiliency, and infrastructure development and financing.

Inspection

“What we are doing is a long-term plan. We need persistence (in the fulfillment of the CAP),” said Habitan, who was in Cebu yesterday to inspect the venue together with DOF Assistant Secretary Edita Z. Tan and Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares.

On the day of the Finance Ministerial meeting, Henares said that member economies will share best practices in these areas.

The Philippines can take pride in the present landscape of microfinance in the country, which is supporting micro entrepreneurs.

The Economist Intelligence Unit has described the Central Bank’s (BSP) regulatory environment for microfinance services as “one of the best frameworks in the world.”

Micro insurance in the country has also been growing, Habitan said, wherein big insurance players like Pioneer and Prudential have started to offer micro insurance products to low-income Filipinos, especially now that the country has visited by natural calamities.

In the area of financial transparency, particularly in the field of taxation, Henares said the BIR is an agency that has always been “transparent” with its transactions, although there’s more to be done in terms of going after companies and corporations that do not pay the right amount of taxes.

“Infrastructure is one of our weaknesses,” Henares said, reminding the government to increase infrastructure investments, one of the four pillars in the CAP, if it wants to further boost its economy.

APEC member economies have formulated a roadmap for Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), as documented in Apec’s website.

PPP “offers a viable alternative to traditional procurement methods to support infrastructure development.”

It has several merits, such as expanding public infrastructure supply, improving service quality, maximizing the use of private sector capital and knowhow through sharing of risks and responsibilities.

Most importantly, the officials said the Philippines has to continue pouring investments on education to improve its human resource.

“With more educated workforce, we can attract high-value investments,” Habitan said.

Cebu, being one of the hosts of this year’s APEC summit, is hoped to be considered as one of the prime locations for foreign investments.

In an ocular inspection conducted at the venue, the officials said Shangri-La is ready to host the finance ministers, expressing confidence of what it had done in 1997 when the last finance ministerial meeting was held in Cebu.