MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino believes the Philippines will soon receive a credit ratings upgrade.
In an interview with ABS-CBN’s Lynda Jumilla, Aquino highlighted how much the government has saved by scrutinizing contracts and importing less rice.
“As of end September, we saved P42 billion, of that P6 billion from public works... Noong araw, grabe ang realignment (of funds). Napaka-topsy turvy. Just tightening the procedures, resulted in P6 billion in savings... We saved some P7.7 billion by importing less rice,” Aquino was quoted as saying in an abs-cbnNEWS.com story.
He also cited savings from falling interest rates, due to increased investor confidence in the country’s finances.
“We’re inching closer and closer to investment grade pero it has impacted already on how much we have to pay for the loans we have. We have been able to replace the ones with high interest rate with the cheaper interest rates,” Aquino said.
The Philippines’ credit ratings were upgraded under the Aquino administration, which has helped reduce the cost of borrowing. In June, Fitch Ratings raised the Philippines’ credit rating to one notch below investment grade.
This month, Standard & Poor’s raised its outlook for the Philippines to positive from stable, indicating that a rating upgrade is likely soon. S&P said the revised rating outlook was supported by the Philippines’ strong external liquidity and improving fiscal position.
Meanwhile, Aquino said he is excited about a new tourism campaign that will be launched early next year.
The President is confident the campaign plus spending on airports and other infrastructure will help triple the number of tourists by the end of his term.
“Each tourist that comes in brings us $1,000 and the Secretary of Tourism has set a new target by 2016 of 10 million from the current three million. We’re already up by 12 percent as of September. Once the infrastructure is in place and after the campaign is implemented, there is a substantial investment but it pales in comparison to the effect on the economy of all these new tourists,” he said.
