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Opposition OK with IMF loan, but credit should go to Gloria Arroyo


House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez finds nothing wrong with the government’s move to pledge a $1 billion loan to the International Monetary Fund, but wants former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to be credited for the country’s capacity to lend money to foreign financial institutions. Suarez said at a press briefing on Wednesday that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ decision to lend money to the IMF is only “standard banking practice." “Such a loan will not reduce our international reserves; only reallocate them from investments to loans.Most importantly, the BSP is required by law to invest the country’s reserves only to foreign-denominated assets," he said. The Philippine government announced last week that it pledged $1 billion to the IMF to help address the debt crisis in Europe. The decision was met with opposition by various sectors, with Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño even proposing that the BSP be permanently banned from giving out foreign loans. Malacañang however stood firm on its plan to give out the IMF loan, saying it can indirectly help overseas Filipino workers in economically troubled states. Aquino shouldn’t claim credit While favoring the BSP’s move, Suarez said President Benigno Aquino III should not claim credit for the country’s capacity to give out foreign loans. The opposition leader said it was during Mrs. Arroyo’s incumbency that the Philippines was able to prepay the country’s debts in full to the IMF. “We have nothing against putting money to the IMF, but we have to give credit to the previous administration," he said. He added that it was the former President who drove the country’s economy into “unprecendented" growth levels, which he said improved the country’s external position. Suarez added that Mrs. Arroyo herself, whom he visited three weeks ago at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City, seem to be fine with the government’s decision to lend $1 billion to the IMF. The former President, who also currently sits as Pampanga representative, is presently detained at the government hospital for poll sabotage charges. Suarez is the co-chairman of the Lakas-CMD of which Arroyo is the chairman emeritus. —DVM/TJD, GMA News

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