Gov’t ‘recalibrating’ infra spending
To focus on ‘quick spending’ projects
By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:48:00 11/18/2008
Filed Under: Government, Infrastructure
MANILA, Philippines -- The government will "recalibrate" its infrastructure spending, to focus on "quick-spending" projects with no legal issues to stave off a recession that has gripped more and more countries, including Japan, one of its biggest trading partners.
Japan announced on Monday that it has slipped into a recession, following two successive quarters of negative growth, following Germany and the Eurozone, composed of countries of the European Union.
"Our policies are in place. There might be some recalibration, especially in terms of infrastructure expenditures," Press Secretary Jesus Dureza told a news conference at the Palace that followed a meeting of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) cluster of the Cabinet on Tuesday.
"We'd like to go for quick spending disbursements in infrastructure so that we can pump prime the economy. We won't give too much attention to projects that have problems with road right of way because that delays disbursements," he said.
The government would also "fast-track" the resolution of right of way cases involving big-ticket projects, he said.
Dureza said changes in monetary policy were not discussed during the meeting, which was presided over by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The government has, among others, increased the insurance coverage of bank deposits, readied emergency jobs, and shifted monetary to "neutral" from "tight" to cushion the impact of the global recession.
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