Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 18) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) said it is ready to help member countries, including the Philippines, achieve sustainable growth and push for economic policies that would benefit more Filipinos.
The promise was made during a bilateral meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Davos, Switzerland, where the chief executive is attending the World Economic Forum (WEF).
“We have been really interested to engage more deeply with our members to recognize the traditional challenges…they are still there,” said IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva.
The IMF — which the country joined on Dec. 27, 1945 is a United Nations special agency that focuses on promoting global monetary cooperation, ensuring financial stability, and facilitating international trade, among others.
According to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), Georgieva also said the IMF found the Philippines to be an “exceptionally well-performing” country amid the numerous “more immune and more complex challenges” it faced.
“What you have done in the last year of turbulence to sustain growth…is quite commendable,” Georgieva told Marcos.
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During the meeting, the PCO said Marcos raised the need to “go back to the basics,” due to weaknesses in different systems such as food supply, energy, infrastructure, and climate change, among other basic problems that needed to be addressed.
The president also affirmed his administration’s push to scale up digitalization initiatives deemed to be vital for a “more efficient and effective” bureaucracy.
