APEC Workshop on Fiscal Management through Transparency, Reforms opens

BAGAC, Bataan — The Workshop on Fiscal Management through Transparency and Reforms of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) opened today at Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, in a bid to sustain economic growth in the region.

“This two-day workshop, which is being done in partnership with Department of Budget and Management, intends to push forward the initiatives on fiscal transparency and policy reform towards sustained and inclusive economic growth as indicated in the Cebu Action Plan,” Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said. The Cebu Action Plan is the central agenda and proposed roadmap of the Philippines as this year’s host of the APEC Finance Ministers’ Process.

The workshop features discussions on Open Data initiatives as a means for fiscal transparency as well as various reforms on taxation including Sin Taxes for Social Health Financing, Fiscal Incentives Rationalization, Subsidy Targeting, Exchange of Information and Automatic Exchange of Information, and Base Erosion Profit Shifting.

“Open Data Initiatives foster good governance because wide availability of government data increases public scrutiny and participation, ensuring that government resources are conserved and properly used,” Beltran furthered. Moreover, various reforms in taxation aim to prevent tax leakages and inefficient use of tax revenues as well as maximize tax revenues by using it for development priorities.

“In bringing together policymakers, key government officials, and stakeholders from the APEC economies and global experts, we anticipate that the discussions in this workshop can produce strategies to further enhance the work in fiscal transparency and policy reform. We also envision that this workshop will serve as a venue for member-economies to find areas of collaboration which is true to the role of APEC as a forum for economic and technical cooperation,” Beltran ended.