Philippines investor relations, debt transparency ranking jumps to 3rd place

MANILA, Philippines — The investor relations (IR) country score of the Philippines improved to 47.8 from 41.4 percent, allowing the country to jump to third place in 2023 from 12th spot in 2022, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The 2023 IR and Debt Transparency Report of Washington-based Institute of International Finance (IIF) showed that the IR practices of the Philippines was among the best in the 41 emerging markets and developing countries.

The results also indicate the country’s effectiveness in engaging investors and transparency in giving public access to macroeconomic and environment, social, and governance (ESG) data and policy information.

According to the BSP, the Philippines registered the most improved score among the top 10 countries on the list. It followed Indonesia at 48.4 for the top spot and Turkey at 48.3 for the second spot.

“The IIF assessment highlights the success of the Philippines in communicating the strength and resilience of the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals and the continuity of sound structural reform?s to investors and other stakeholders,” former BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said in a statement released over the weekend.

The IR program of the BSP entails reaching out to stakeholders to disseminate continuously updated information on the Philippine economy and to solicit feedback from the investment community.

The economic team’s proactive engagement with investors through regular participation in investor conferences, bilateral meetings, economic briefings, and non-deal roadshows have contributed to the Philippines’ improved ranking.

Notable enhancements include the inclusion of ESG information in the BSP Investor Relations Group webpage in response to investors’ growing interest in the Philippine government’s ESG agenda.

Improvements were also made in the dissemination of macroeconomic data, as well as ESG data and policy information. Likewise, feedback and communication channels were also enhanced.

The IIF IR and Debt Transparency Report features guidelines for emerging markets’ best practices on IR and data dissemination in conjunction with the Principles for Stable Capital Flows and Fair Debt Restructuring.

Meanwhile, preliminary data on the country’s net international investment position indicated a 17-percent growth in the net liability position at $47 billion as of end-March this year from the end-2022 level of $40.1 billion.

This developed following the faster pace of growth of the country’s total external financial liabilities at 4.5 percent compared to total external financial assets at 2.3 percent.

As of end-March, total outstanding external financial liabilities reached $281.3 billion, while total outstanding external financial assets amounted to $234.3 billion.