LEX Manny Pacquiao is a man of many talents: actor, musician, shampoo salesman. And, after the Filipino boxer clinched his seventh world title in different weight classes at the weekend, calls for the national hero to enter politics were as loud as they were inevitable. But it is doubtful whether the 30-year-old southpaw could do anything to dodge the country’s looming funding crunch.
Like many other developing nations, the $167bn economy, Asia’s 13th largest, front-loaded its stimulus programme, pushing its monthly budget shortfall to 35 per cent in July. As tax receipts have weakened, and efforts to sell state assets have stalled, the fiscal position has suffered: the Philippines blew through its full-year deficit ceiling of 250bn pesos ($5.3bn) at the end of October. That’s putting a strain on funding: on Tuesday the government failed to sell local-currency bonds for the third time this quarter. Domestic investors are turning up their noses at the coupons on offer, relative to seemingly steadier corporates, and counting on higher yields next time.
