adventures in neverland

the philippines finally clinched its third investment grade rating from a major international debt rater, moody's investors service (please click here for the moody's statement on the rating upgrade), completing its climb into the privileged and perfumed circle and eclipsing its wealthier neighbor indonesia, which has yet to seal an investment grade rating from another global debt watcher standard & poor's, a feat the philippines secured in may this year. (indonesia, by the way, long been counted as the closest rival of the philippines in terms of luring foreign capital (either in the form of debt or investment), won an investment grade rating from fitch and moody's a year or so ahead of the philippines. but indonesia has yet to receive an investment grade rating from s&p. because indonesia only has two investment grade ratings, some investors like the conservative japanese still can't invest in the south east asian country's yen bonds if they are ...

and so it finally happened. the philippines beat indonesia and the rest of asia (except china) in posting the highest economic growth rate. this bodes well for the government's quest for an investment grade rating, a distinction currently enjoyed by indonesia, another southeast asian country with almost the same features as the philippines - large, youthful population, export dependent, rich natural resources, persistent budget deficits, frequent borrowings in the overseas debt markets. (in my past life when i was covering asian bonds, investors and analysts would always compare the philippines and indonesia - both the biggest sellers of bonds in the global markets - and some of them would point out that philippine dollar bonds were already trading at investment grade levels, even faring better than indonesian dollar bonds.) portfolio investments (and hopefully the more permanent foreign direct investments) are expected to pour in like a typhoon as an investment grade rating l...