Dominguez to Moody's: Do not be distracted by political noise

On the heels of President Rodrigo Duterte's tirade against international bodies, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III urged credit watchdog Moody's not to be distracted by the political noise generated by the Chief Executive.

“If you talk about the political noise, yes, there is. It’s inevitable for someone who’s shaking up the tree. It’s inevitable because of the personality of the President, and people are not used to this type of governance," Dominguez told officials of Moody's in a meeting on September 29.

"But he’s fully engaged in the administration’s economic agenda,” the Cabinet official noted.

In a statement on Friday, the Department of Finance (DOF) noted the administration's 10-point socioeconomic agenda is focused on inclusive growth while carrying out priority goals in eliminating crime and corruption and forging lasting peace within the country and with its neighbors.

The credit rating agency was represented in the meeting by Christian de Guzman, vice president and senior credit officer; Atsi Sheth, managing director; and Matthew Circosta, associate analyst, all of the Sovereign Risk Group.
 
Dominguez told them the government would carry out its inclusive growth agenda while building on the economic gains of the past administrations and exercising fiscal responsibility.
 
Moody’s currently rates the Philippines as Baa2, an investment grade rating with a stable outlook.

This credit rating is higher than what Moody’s has given Vietnam and India, DOF noted.

The Finance chief also told the Moody’s officials the President’s top goal is to reduce the poverty rate from 26 percent to 17 percent by 2022.

However, the Cabinet official took note that poverty reduction cannot be achieved unless the President also focuses on his two other priority goals of transforming the country into a law-abiding society and ensuring lasting peace.

 "Poverty reduction requires massive investments in infrastructure, human capital and social protection, and doing something that no other government has done, which is to implement the Reproductive Health Law regardless of the expected opposition from some sectors," he said.

He added that infrastructure projects would be spread outside Metro Manila, thus improving logistics, communications and power facilities in areas such as the northern and eastern parts of Luzon, Eastern Visayas, and Mindanao.
 
“It would be almost criminal negligent of us not to do what we’re going to do,” Dominguez said.
 
He told Moody’s that the government is against tax evasion, illegal gambling and smuggling, and is now working to drastically cut red tape in the bureaucracy, ease the process of making tax payments, and pave the way for transparent, paperless transactions in the Bureau of Customs by implementing the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act. — Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News