IMF to evaluate RP’s data reports

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is sending a mission to the Philippines to evaluate the country’s compliance with internationally accepted standards and codes on reporting economic data.

Sources from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the IMF is sending a seven-man team headed by senior advisor Jose Roberto Rosales to meet with Philippine economic, finance and monetary officials in September.

The IMF has been assisting the Philippines on the adjustment of its reporting standards and codes, an exercise that led to the controversial revision of the country’s trade data late last year.

Sources said the IMF mission would make a summary assessment of the country’s "Observance and implementation of internationally recognized standards and codes".

The mission is part of the on-going review of the standards and codes currently in use to align and make them more comparable with international practice.

The IMF would be meeting with a team headed by the Department of Finance (DoF) and the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) that handle the fiscal data.

Already under review and refinement are the country’s national income accounts, trade data and monetary aggregates which have already been brought in line with international standards.

The government has already revised its standards and codes for reporting trade data which led to revisions in the country’s balance of payments data. The revisions even led to the controversy involving former IMF mission head Joshua Felman who was blamed for the premature release of revised figures that indicated capital flight when the government was claiming otherwise.

The BSP had repeatedly explained that after the numbers had been reconciled, the apparent capital flight actually represented dollar outflows that was used to pay for imports made during the period and not investments that left the country.

Before the news was sorted out, however, the market perception created by the controversy caused a 25-basis point uptick in a bond offer launched by the government at the time.

"That’s why we are being very careful now," the sources said. "The IMF’s assistance in this undertaking is critical because it lends more credibility to the process."