Last Tuesday October 29, Standard Poor's changed its credit outlook on the Philippines from stable to negative. The decision came after the government's announcement that the nine-month budget deficit had reached Ps166.5 billion $31.4 billion, already over the official Ps155 billion prediction for the full-year.
With concern over the government's inability to curb spending and failure to generate sufficient revenues, primarily from taxes, there seems every chance that a downgrading of both the foreign currency rating currently BB and local rating BBB might follow.
Optimism is pretty thin on the ground at the moment when it comes to the Philippines' economic fortunes. However, FinanceAsia invited its readers last week to think positively...
