Gross national happiness

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto welcomed Fitch Ratings' recent affirmation of our BBB credit rating with a 'Stable' outlook.

- BOO CHANCO

Retaining our investment-grade credit rating is always a big thing for our economic managers, and for good reason. It allows our government and private sector to get good interest rates when borrowing internationally. It can also convince a foreign investor to invest, but in our case, not so much.

DEPDev Secretary Arsi Balisacan, on the other hand, is optimistic that "we are well-positioned to achieve upper-middle-income status by 2026."

World Bank data last year showed we remained a lower-middle-income country, despite the increase in our GNI per capita to $4,230 in 2023 from $3,950 in 2022.

But how relevant are these economic numbers to the everyday lives of ordinary Filipinos?

Recall that PNoy posted the most consistent high GDP growth rates, averaging around six percent, with a high of 7.15 percent in 2016. We received our first-ever investment-grade credit rating on March 27, 2013, when Fitch Ratings upgraded the country's long-term foreign currency issuer default rating from BB+ to BBB-. Other major credit rating agencies eventually recognized the Philippines' improved economic standing.

Yet, at the end of PNoy's term, the voters so despised him that they elected Duterte instead of his anointed candidate, Mar Roxas. That also marked the end of the Liberal Party. Just being identified with the "yellows" is a political kiss of death, even now.

Ordinary Pinoys say they didn't feel PNoy's economic golden age. What they saw were rich Pinoys getting richer, and very little of the economic gains trickled down to the grassroots. They saw Duterte as one who would kick the elites on their behalf.

If BBM is impressed by what his economic managers tell him, he will be in deep trouble. A recent SWS survey indicates a rise in the number of Filipinos who consider themselves poor.