Transparency key to PHL gains, but only first step — Purisima
FISCAL TRANSPARENCY has allowed the Philippine government to expand citizen participation, procurement efficiency, economic growth and fiscal space, the Finance Secretary said.
Secretary Cesar V. Purisima’s discussion of the policy’s benefits to Filipinos was delivered at the High-Level Dialogue on Fiscal Transparency in Washington, DC.
“We firmly believe that transparency breeds confidence, increases accountability and improves public service results. Transparency is the first step to building a country’s public value chain.”
Mr. Purisima cited the Philippines’ gains from strengthening fiscal transparency to open the discussion between finance ministers, investors and public financial management experts on expanded transparency in relation to access to financial markets.
The dialogue was conducted on the sidelines of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings on April 15.
It was co-hosted by the Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, Emerging Markets Investors Alliance, the United States Department of the Treasury, the Fiscal Affairs Department of IMF and the International Budget Partnership.
“Fiscal transparency is critical not only to investors who will be the market of $65 billion in emerging market bonds that are estimated to be issued this year, but to government who want to fulfill their social contract with the people they serve,” Mr. Purisima said.
In the case of the Philippines, the value of transparency was realized when designing policy actions and opening up feedback mechanisms for the public.
“If there are value chains for businesses, we must look at government reforms through the lens of a public value chain, of which transparency is just the first step,” Mr. Purisima noted. — <http://goo.gl/yRkQBg>