Related Stories Philippines tries to go long to arrest shortening debt maturities"We expect rising headwinds in the longer term to spur policymakers into narrowing the fiscal deficit over the medium term and containing further growth in public debt," Fitch Solutions, a unit of the Fitch Group, said in a report released Friday. “The gradual reduction (in public debt) will be due to three long-term challenges we expect the Philippines economy to face: 1) meeting domestic energy needs; 2) creating employment opportunities for the growing population; 3) addressing the country’s infrastructure deficit,” it added. In its report, Fitch Solutions forecast state debt as a share of the economy to peak at 57.7% in 2022 before “gradually” easing from there, citing the need for continued fiscal support to recharge the economy from a pandemic-induced slump. "As such, we maintain our forecasts for fiscal deficits of 7.7% and 6.5% of GDP in 2021 and 2022," Fitch Solutions said. “That said, we do not view such stimulus as a risk to the near-term public debt outlook and anticipate fiscal consolidation over the coming years.”

Source: Philippine Star June 11, 2021 03:39 UTC