 |
Main Menu |
 |
|
Total Hits |
|
We received
2493314
page views since March 2004 |
|
|
|
|
|
Donations |
|
| HELP KEEP OUR SERVERS ONLINE! |  | | Donat-o-Meter Stats | | November´s Goal: | $100.00 | | Due Date: | Nov 30 | | Gross Amount: | $0.00 | | Net Balance: | $0.00 | | Left to go: | $100.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upcoming Events |
|
|
|
Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gutom Recipes |
|
|
|
Recommended Links |
|
|
|
Ads by Google |
|
|
|
Paid Advertising |
|
|
|
Advertising |
|
|
|
|
SPEAKER DE VENECIA DISCUSSES DEBT-FOR-EQUITY PROPOSAL TO IMF OFFICIALS |
|
 (The following is a news release from Mr. Noel Albano - Deputy Secretary
General for Public Information of the Philippine House of Representatives - on
today’s meeting of House Speaker Jose De Venecia with officials of the
International Monetary Fund)
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 20) - Addressing the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
at its headquarters here, Speaker Jose de Venecia offered a global large-scale
initiative that seeks to convert fifty percent of the US$ 2.3 trillion
debt-stock of some 100 heavily indebted middle-income countries into equity in
development projects to lift billions of lives from poverty.
De Venecia unveiled his Debt-for-Equity in Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
Projects program before senior IMF and World Bank directors and senior
officials, calling it a “second-step initiative and a formula on how to finance
the global battle against poverty.”
De Venecia said he was offering the plan not just for the Philippines but on
behalf of some 100 other middle-income countries whose heavy debt-service
payments have drained their governments of adequate resources to finance
programs aimed at cutting poverty in half by 2015.
“This could be a large ‘Marshall Plan’ for the world,” de Venecia said. “We are
seeking a significant conversion of the debt-stock so that we will have a global
front attack against poverty.”
“We are offering a formula that will be painless to the creditor institutions
and that will help the billions of poor people in the world. It will build
housing and schools, fight disease and lift literacy,” he said.
Positive reactions welcomed de Venecia’s proposal, which he earlier presented at
the Summit of Speakers of Parliament at the United Nations in New York two weeks
ago.
IMF Deputy Managing Director Agustin Carstens said he welcomed de Venecia’s
proposal which raised new ideas that need to be worked out to hurdle the
challenges to its assumptions.
“We have to look into the details. We have put our brains to work to see if
these can move forward in the future,” said Cartens, who introduced de Venecia
at the forum and later hosted lunch in honor of the highly-regarded Philippine
Speaker.
IMF Deputy Managing Director Takatishi Kato and IMF executive director Jong Nam
Oh joined senior IMF officials and directors for de Venecia’s hour-long
presentation at the IMF Auditorium.
The Philippine representative in the World Bank, Jeremias Paul, listened closely
to the Speaker’s presentation and later commented that the “idea could fly.”
He said he believes the program requires the political support of the G-8
countries and de Venecia “is doing a good job in rallying this support.”
Since first presenting this debt strategy in May, de Venecia has won a series of
hard-earned endorsements, among them from Italy and Germany, two major powers in
the G-8 countries, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
In a letter to de Venecia, Annan said: “…your proposal to broaden the scale and
scope of the debt swaps would help provide relief and release additional funds
for financing sustainable development activities that are key to achieving the
Millennium Development Goals. The president of the Paris Club – Jean-Pierre
Jouyet, created in June a technical committee that will further study the
proposal.
De Venecia said that to forestall any abuse of this facility, any country
availing itself of it in the future should make a commitment to transparency.
De Venecia said in the Philippine situation, there are specific programs that
could be immediately tapped. He cited at least 21 mining projects requiring $ 10
billion in investments, as well as projects in power generation, reforestation
and reclamation.
In June this year, the United Kingdom and the United States announced a plan
writing off $ 40 billion in foreign debt of 18 highly-indebted poorest
countries, 16 from Africa and two from Latin America.
De Venecia said his idea will await refinement from financial institutions and
bankers but stressed that his proposal does not seek debt-forgiveness, debt
discount, and debt cancellation. “The creditor will have to choose the projects
on a voluntary basis,” he said.
As of 2005, the Philippines’ total indebtedness to the IMF is $595 million of
its total external debt of P55.4 billion ($5.6 billion) and payment on principal
at P3607 billion ($6.4 billion) this year.
Next year, the Philippines’ interest payments will be at P 340 billion ($6
billion) and its payments on principal at P 381.7 billion or $ 6/8 billion of
its more than P 1 trillion proposed 2006 budget.
The massive debt service has left little government spending for infrastructure
development and for public health care, education, and economic development, de
Venecia said. (END)
---------------------------------------------
Reference:
Consul Patricia Ann V. Paez
Press and Information Officer
E-mail: pvpaez@aol.com
Tel. No. 202-467-9400
Mr. Erik Lorenzana (Staff)
E-mail: rppress@verizon.net
Tel. No. 202-467-9432
|
|
Posted on Sunday, October 16 @ 19:50:28 CDT by don |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Related Links |
|
|
|
Article Rating |
|
|
|
Options |
|
|
|
|
| | The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
|
|
|
|
|
No Comments Allowed for Anonymous, please register |
|
|
|
|
Gutom sa Karunungan :: Gutom sa Kalinangan :: Gutom sa Katotohanan :: Gutom sa Pagbabago
Hunger for Knowledge :: Hunger for Enlightenment :: Hunger for Truth :: Hunger for Change
The opinions, postings, and articles in in this website do not
necessarily reflect the orientation or represent the opinions of Gutom.org, its
owners, administrators, members, and affiliates nor that of FreeSparrow, LLC. members, management, employees and affiliates. The (opinions, postings and
articles) have been approved for informational purposes only. In addition, Gutom.org may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We believe this constitutes a
"fair use" of such material under 17 U.S.C. Section 107. Members and readers
wishing to use copyrighted material for or from this site for purposes that go
beyond "fair use," must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more info about this site please contact Team Gutom by
CLICKING THIS LINK.
Gutom.Org is an interactive on-line service operated by FreeSparrow, LLC. on the World Wide Web of the Internet, consisting of information
services and content provided by FreeSparrow, LLC., affiliates of FreeSparrow, LLC. and other third parties.
All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner.
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest © 2005 by Gutom.Org,
and by FreeSparrow, LLC..
Disclaimer
:: Terms of Use
:: Privacy
Policy
PHP-Nuke Copyright © 2004 by Francisco Burzi. This is free software, and you may redistribute it under the .
PHP-Nuke comes with absolutely no warranty, for details, see the .
Powered by
Page Generation: 2.67 Seconds
:: skyLineBlue phpbb2 style by Volize Web Solutions :: PHP-Nuke theme by www.nukemods.com ::
| |
