SPEAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. will propose to the International Monetary Fund the creation of an IMF counterpart in Asia, saying that the recent successes of Asian bonds and swap arrangements among Asian central banks are movements toward a monetary vehicle in the region.

In pushing for an Asian Monetary Fund, de Venecia said, “This is long-felt needed by the governments of Asia.”

De Venecia said he would personally bring the matter to IMF managing director Rodrigo de Rato when he meets him on Tuesday.

“The recent successes of Asian bonds and swap arrangements among some Asian central banks are movements toward an Asian monetary vehicle,” said de Venecia.

He said the huge foreign-currency reserves of many Asian nations far exceed the reserves of G-8 countries.

De Venecia said that upon his request, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas sent a representative to attend the meeting of experts in Tehran two weeks ago “to prepare the ground for the creation of an Asian Monetary Fund.”

He said the idea of an Asian IMF began with Japan.

“At every opportunity I have tried to push the idea, even before the East Asian financial crisis of 1997, and much more after the debacle, whose aftereffects lingered for a number of years,” de Venecia said.

When he meets with Rato, de Venecia said he would also seek IMF endorsement of his debt-for-equity program that would allow the 102 poorest and most heavily indebted countries to divert 50 percent of their debt-service payments into equity for reforestation, clean water, irrigation and food production and other major antipoverty programs.

De Venecia said the proposal “needs an extra push” to bring it to the attention of the Paris Club and the G-8 countries, which are in a position to act on it.

De Venecia firmed up the proposals he would bring to the discussion table on the eve of his meeting with de Rato.

He identified two others as the Asian Antipoverty Fund aimed at stimulating entrepreneurial energies in Asia’s rural and urban slums through microfinance, and the Asian Antidisaster Fund that would bring together national and regional disaster-management networks to help nations cope with natural disasters.

De Venecia said that he would officially inform de Rato that no new taxes would be legislated by the 14th Congress, and the government, to meet the country’s deficit target, must raise the efficiency of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs as revenue agencies.

TRADE Secretary Peter B. Favila suspects that the cement giants in the country are probably bloating their financing charges to justify their relatively high prices.

AT least 30 percent of the workers of food and handicraft exporters have been retrenched due to the continued appreciation of the peso against the dollar, Philippine Exporters Confederation (Philexport) president Sergio Ortiz-Luis said.

THE Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has picked the amendments to the antismuggling law to become its second priority legislation for lobbying in Congress.

PTT Philippines Corp. (PTTPC), the local subsidiary of Thailand’s largest petroleum company, said Monday that it has opened its first fuel depot on Mactan Island, Cebu.

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—In about five years, most of the Subic Bay Freeport will be abloom, and fruits will be dangling from some 7,000 trees that would line up the main roads from the Subic gateway to Cubi Point and up to the Naval Magazine area.

CHANGES and improvements in the country’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) will be implemented by 2008, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

SPEAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. will propose to the International Monetary Fund the creation of an IMF counterpart in Asia, saying that the recent successes of Asian bonds and swap arrangements among Asian central banks are movements toward a monetary vehicle in the region.

THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) has improved monitoring of projects funded by official development assistance (ODA) and now requires all implementing agencies to submit more detailed information on projects with cost overruns.