Inclusive development in focus at ADB meeting

THE PHILIPPINES will compare notes on inclusive growth best practices with some of the 66 other members of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) when the regional lender holds its annual meeting in Metro Manila this May, the Finance chief said on Tuesday.

Manila is likewise expected to enjoy some boost in tourism revenues, with about 3,000 delegates expected to fly in for the May 3-6 meetings to be held in the Ortigas business district.

“In the course of the deliberations, we hope to craft modes of development interventions that will be more inclusive… The Asia Pacific is now the center of gravity of the global economy and its most important growth driver,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said at the launch of the event at the Ayuntamiento de Manila.

Mr. Dominguez chairs the ADB Board of Governors as Manila hosts the 2018 meetings. The Cabinet official is looking to share the country’s experience in enacting tax reform, which has been implemented starting this year.

In turn, the Philippines also seeks to learn best practices employed by other countries in addressing specific challenges or economic issues, as well as integrated Customs operations with other Southeast Asian countries.

The ADB’s 51^st meeting will explore opportunities on “linking people and economies for inclusive development,” with a focus on tapping emerging technologies to uplift poor communities and provide sources of resilient growth.

“We also see a dynamic and increasingly complex development landscape emerging – rapid technological progress offering opportunities and challenges, climate change and environmental pressures, aging populations, urbanization and infrastructure gaps,” ADB Board Secretary Woochong Um said in a separate speech.

“The technology aspect is very much in the forefront of our discussion and how we can tap that to make development more inclusive.”

The Philippines last hosted the ADB annual meeting in 2012.

Mr. Dominguez said the government wants to remain “frugal” with a P90-million budget for this year’s events, much less than the P200 million spent six years ago.

Apart from advancing the development agenda, Mr. Dominguez said he also expects the hosting of these events to lift tourist arrivals and potentially usher in more foreign capital.

“All businesses in other countries start with tourism, and later on either decide to invest or live there,” Mr. Dominguez said.

“This is a first step for us… we certainly would put our best foot forward to show what’s available in the Philippines,” he added.

“We have a very good policy environment, a stable system of government, we have a workforce that is young and very well-educated — those are the things we want to display.”

Mr. Dominguez said ADB-related events will be concentrated within the Ortigas area in order to limit impact on traffic.

Mr. Um said the regional lender will maximize use of its headquarters by holding most of the breakout meetings there.

The ADB provided $1.08 billion in loans to the Philippines in 2017, which Mr. Um described as a record high.

“We hope to sustain and even surpass this level of assistance to the Philippines,” the official said.

Across Asia and the Pacific, the ADB has extended over $250 billion in grants and loans over the last 50 years.

ADB expects the Philippine economy to grow by 6.8% this year, faster than the 6.7% pace in 2017 but below the 7-8% target set by economic managers. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez