Palace shrugs off WB chief’s warning on 'more dangerous' times

A Cabinet official on Wednesday said the Philippine economy will remain resilient amid the United States’ and Europe’s economic problems, shrugging off the World Bank (WB) chief’s warning of “more dangerous" times ahead. In an interview with reporters, Communications Strategy Secretary Ricky Carandang said the warning of WB president Robert Zoellick applies more to the US than to the Philippines. He explained that the country is now in better shape than it was in 1997, when Asia suffered a financial crisis, and in 2008, when the US debt crisis took place. “I think the Philippine economy is more resilient than we've been given credit for. We survived the credit crunch in ‘08, we survived the Asian crisis in ‘97. I'm not saying there won’t be some effect but the Philippine economy has always been very resilient," Carandang said. Carandang also said the government is monitoring the situation in the US and Europe, acknowledging that the situation in the two economies will create repercussions on the global economy. He added that the economic team is visualizing several scenarios to prepare for what could happen. “What's important for us is that there's no contagion effect. If people are losing confidence in some markets, they should not lose confidence in our markets. And so measures are being considered that would help maintain confidence," Carandang said. — PE/VS, GMA News