Group: Phl ratings upgrade meaningless to the poor

MANILA, Philippines - Militant group Bayan said on Friday that the ratings upgrade the Philippines got from the international debt watcher Fitch Ratings might not result to job creation in the country.

"The ratings upgrade seems meaningless to the poor. The type of investments it may attract may not necessarily create jobs, especially if these are portfolio investments," Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes, Jr. said. 

Fitch Ratings lifted the country’s credit rating to BBB- from BB+, with a stable outlook, less than a month after its team visited the Philippines for a diligence review of the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals.

Reyes also noted that the Aquino administration should instead focus its energy on instituting "land reform  and genuine constitutional industrialization which would create a stable and self-reliant economy."

He said the credit ratings upgrade looks good on paper but it will only be used by the administration as a campaign pitch to propel its senatorial bets.

"Economic growth premised on external factors like foreign investments is an illusion...But without new jobs, the ratings upgrade will remain a hollow indicator not felt by the majority," Reyes pointed out.a