MANILA - A senior finance undersecretary was named “Anti-Red Tape Czar” on Tuesday to speed up transactions in the tax and customs bureaus, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran was tasked to “dramatically reduce the number of steps and documentary requirements” in the Department of Finance and its attached agencies, Dominguez told a business forum.

“This will include paying taxes, getting tax refunds, acquiring tax exemption certificates, getting imports released, shipping out exports, registering a business and getting appointments with public officials,” he said.

Dominguez said the government would “cut redundancy” in government processes to improve the delivery of basic services and infrastructure.

The include amending the procurement law to streamline processes, simplifying permit requirements for infrastructure projects, creating a “prioritization list” for projects, delineating the delivery between national and local projects and improving the absorptive capacity of key agencies, he said.

Beltran has been finance undersecretary since 2005. He is also the department’s concurrent chief economist. He rose from the ranks in the department, starting as a researcher in 1978.

Beltran graduated from the University of the Philippines School of Economics in 1977 and later took his masters in economics at the University of Colorado and masters in development economics from William College.

President Rodrigo Duterte promised a crackdown on red tape and flip-flopping government policies on his first day in office.