Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

MANILA - The chief executive officer of Citicorp, one of the firms hit by the US financial crisis, has advised President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to keep inflation in check as the global turmoil would see a shift to commodities from financial instruments, Malacañang said.

The President met Citicorp CEO Bill Rhodes at the Plaza Hotel New York on Monday, a day before she addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday morning (late Tuesday evening in Manila), according to a Palace statement.

"The prescription [of Rhodes] for RP: Watch inflation as it is going to have a long-term effect in the face of the continuing volatility in the global market, amid an impending shift from financials to commodities," the statement said.

In August, consumer prices in the Philippines rose 12.7 percent for a 17-year high.

In early September, the fourth largest investment bank in the US, Lehman Brothers, went bankrupt, sending shockwaves through the world markets.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza quoted Rhodes as telling Arroyo: "[The US is] presently in the eye of the storm. There is calm now but the worst is yet to come."

Nonetheless, Rhodes "congratulated the President for putting in place reforms, even as he pointed out that these reforms will still be put to a test," Dureza said, according to the statement.

Rhodes also praised Arroyo for her "toughness," which would be needed to meet the challenges posed by a weakening US economy.

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