http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20080916-161018/Leftist-youth-rally-blame-WB-for-VAT

By Thea Alberto

INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:44:00 09/16/2008
MANILA, Philippines — Members of the leftist youth group Anakbayan staged a rally in front of the World Bank’s (WB) Philippine office on Tuesday, blaming the financial institution and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the value added tax.

Members of the League of Filipino Students and Student Christian Movement also blamed the IMF-WB’s impositions for the automatic appropriation of 40 percent of the national budget for foreign debt servicing.

Leftist groups have long accused IMF-WB of imposing conditions on governments, including the levying of “onerous” taxes, in exchange for access to loans.

“The dominating directives, which [have] been consistently implemented by foreign-lending institutions as the IMF-WB, Asian Development Bank and others, commercial banks and global capital markets are mere large-scale financial blackmail,” said Andrew Zarate, Anakbayan-National Capital Region spokesman.

Zarate said these “economic intervention schemes” are part of the United States government’s “imperialist plunder” of Third World countries like the Philippines.

The activist youth leader acknowledged the small number of protesters but said what was important was they were able to voice their concerns.

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