MARRAKECH, MOROCCO [PART 7 of 7] – The economic team, led by Finance Secretary and World Bank (WB) Governor for the Philippines Benjamin E. Diokno, discussed sharpening the Philippine government’s fiscal and public financial management tools with technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Asia and Pacific Department (APD) and Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) on the sidelines of the 2023 WB-IMF Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco.

Together with Department of Finance (DOF) Chief Economic Counsellor Zeno Abenoja, DOF Undersecretary of the International Finance Group (IFG) Ma. Edita Z. Tan, Department of Budget and Management Undersecretary Joselito Basilio, and OIC Bureau of the Treasury Sharon Almanza, Secretary Diokno the National Governments plans on improving the value-added tax (VAT) system, assessing tax expenditures on fiscal incentives, and harmonizing budget, fiscal, and revenue forecasting models that will help the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) achieve the country’s fiscal targets under the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework.

Effective domestic resource mobilization has been touted as a critical pillar of economic resilience amid ongoing global upheavals during the 2023 WB-IMF Meetings.