The Philippines and Indonesia, with strong economic fundamentals, have bucked the worldwide downward trend in credit rankings, a Standard Chartered official said.
For every three debt rankings downgrades, there is just one upgrade, and concerns concerning the pace of the Federal Reserve’s rankings tightening are weighing on markets which have barely recovered from recent crises.
“Two governments in ASEAN currently have a positive outlook, which implies there’s a probability the rating will increase – this includes Indonesia and the Philippines,” said Karby Leggett, head of public sector at Standard Chartered Asia.
“In both cases, the positive outlook is justified by an overall improvement in the overall macroeconomic fundamentals, very strong growth, sufficient external buffers and high quality policymaking,” he said.
Leggett noted strong demand for the newest bond offerings from each countries. However, infrastructure stays a pressing challenge, he added.
“The region is firmly in the demographic window, with a large inflow of skilled labor, which is the basis for strong economic growth in the coming years,” he said.
“The query is: tips on how to enable this population to search out work, produce and eat? We might want to make an appropriate level of investment in infrastructure, we’d like roads, electricity and bridges, transport,” he said.
Source : ABN-CBS | This is money
