Moody's upgrades Philippines

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded the government of the Philippines' Ba3 foreign- and local-currency long-term bond ratings to Ba2 from Ba3.

The outlook is stable.

The not-prime short-term ratings are unaffected.

A key driver for the upgrade is the progress made in fiscal consolidation by the new Aquino administration, Moody's said, along with the sustained nature of macroeconomic stability.

Also considered is the continued strength in the external payments position and significant pick-up in the momentum for economic growth, the agency said.

The Philippines' long-term foreign-currency bond ceiling also was raised to Baa3 from Ba1 and the long-term foreign-currency deposit ceiling to Ba2 from Ba3. The short-term foreign-currency bond ceiling was raised to prime-3 while the short-term foreign-currency deposit ceiling remains at not-prime.

The outlook is stable.

These ceilings act as a cap on ratings that can be assigned to the foreign-currency obligations of other entities domiciled in the country, Moody's said.

In addition, the local-currency bond and deposit ceilings were unified at A2, the agency said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.