MANILA, Philippines — Dutch financial giant ING sees a “challenging and complicated” path to economic recovery for the Philippines due to the less optimistic outlook of credit-rating agencies on the country’s ballooning debt, wider fiscal deficit and the return to a current-account deficit.
In a July 13 report, ING Philippines senior economist Nicholas Mapa estimated the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio—which reflected an economy’s capacity to pay its obligations—to have further risen to 62.1 percent as of May, alongside the climb in the national government’s outstanding debt stock to P11.07 trillion.
The latest official government data placed debt-to-GDP at a 16-ye…
Keep on reading: Rising debt, return of ‘twin deficits’ complicate PH journey to recovery