Hong Kong endorses Anti-Corruption Action Plan

Hong Kong has become the 20th nation to endorse the Anti-Corruption Action Plan designed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government endorsed through an official communication the ADB-OECD action plan.

"HKSAR Government will take its place in the Steering Group and start participating in the Initiative," Jak Jabes, director of ADB’s Governance and Regional Cooperation Division, said in a statement after the steering group’s third meeting in Jakarta last month.Incidentally, Cambodia was the 19th country to join the Initiative during that meeting.

In that meeting, the group outlined their implementation obligations, peer review and stocktaking mechanisms. The reviews would be used to record progress made by countries, which would be reported during the 4th ADB-OECD Conference on Combating Corruption in Asia and Pacific in Kuala Lumpur in December this year.

The Philippines has reportedly endorsed the plan and in fact, is still being scrutinized by experts contracted by the World Bank and the ADB.

The result of the "scrutiny" is a report on public expenditure and financial management and procurement. It also embodies an analysis of the problems in managing public resources, and efficiencies and recommendations for improvement.

Initial figures indicated that a quarter or a third of expenditures on public procurement and services is leakage in the sense that the government is paying higher than it could be paying if the system were more transparent for those contracts.

Earlier, the World Bank expressed interest in indirectly participating in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP, 2001-04), especially in areas of poverty reduction. These are: (1) macroeconomic stability and equitable growth based on free enterprise; (2) socially equitable modernization of agriculture and fisheries; (3) comprehensive human development; and (4) good governance and rule of law, including improved service delivery, institutional strengthening, and judicial reform.

The WB plans to help the Philippine government ensure that the key building blocks for sustained growth-increased investment and productivity within both private and public sectors – are firmly in place.

These also involve supporting the Philippine government’s efforts to (i) strengthen fiscal policy by improving the tax effort and containing contingent liabilities; (ii) address banking vulnerabilities and deepen the capital markets; (iii) enhance competitiveness through trade and regulatory reforms, especially in the agriculture, services, and small and medium enterprise sectors; (iv) raise productivity by alleviating key infrastructure bottlenecks, especially transport and rural power; and (v) improve governance in both the public and corporate sectors.