NEDA says efficient bureaucracy can spur economic growth

(Updated: 6:39 p.m.) Streamlined business procedures and more transparent investment measures could help bring money needed to speed up growth, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said. "We know that the general directions we would like to see would be higher, but we will have to work on what we need to do in order to attain a growth rate which is higher than that, maybe somewhere in the 7 percent 8 percent," the NEDA chief said. It is also a top priority to make Philippines more attractive for investors and multilateral agencies by eradicating corruption and cutting red tape, Paderanga added. He said the economic managers will work on what needs to be done in order to obtain growth somewhere between 7 percent and 8 percent by 2011. President Benigno Aquino III in his State of the Nation Address told local government units to review their procedures to implement streamlining for faster business start-ups. The economy grew 7.3 percent in the first quarter. The Aquino administration expected the economy to grow between 5 percent and 6 percent this year and 7 percent to 8 percent next year. The economy grew 4.4 percent on average over the past 10 years. To substantially reduce poverty, the Philippine economy should grow 7 percent a year. In a separate interview, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said Thursday the government will work on achieving the growth target by increasing infrastructure spending and inviting the private sector to invest more. "With better governance we expect the private sector to be more aggressive in investing. We've been lagging behind in terms of foreign direct investment," said Purisima. —MR Gavin/Jam Sisante/VS, GMANews.TV