The Economist ranks the Philippines 6th among selected emerging economies in the world, and the best among those ranked from Southeast Asia, in terms of economic, fiscal, and financial management.
This assessment shows that improving our revenue flows through our tax reform program, being judicious with expenditures and investments, and maintaining a well-balanced debt management strategy are serving the country well.
It also suggests that the Philippines has the confidence of the international community, which will go a long way in helping us finance our COVID-19 response measures. The same confidence will also help us attract investments and create jobs on our road to recovery.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s commitment to a conservative approach to economic policy has brought us an average of 6.4 percent GDP growth over the past 3 years and a sovereign credit rating of BBB+, the highest in our country’s history. Our gross international reserves (GIR) as of March this year are good for close to 8 months of imports, and is 5.3 times our external short-term debt. While COVID-19 may be an unprecedented global crisis, the Philippines is better positioned to overcome this situation than at any other time in recent history.
This strong vote of confidence in the country’s fiscal and economic management encourages the Duterte administration to continue on its path of prudent macroeconomic and fiscal management. We will work with Congress to build on this success by enacting urgent tax and economic reforms that will strengthen our recovery efforts and help build a better future for our people.
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