May 2004
Buenaventura struggles to stabilize the Philippines
It's a wonder that the Philippines is still afloat. Rafael Buenaventura, central bank governor, has steered it clear of disaster. But with a presidential election this month, an unimpressive line-up of legislators and the governor's term coming to a close, the republic faces an uncertain passage.
THE STICKY MORNING chaos on Manila's Roxas Boulevard seems a thousand miles away from the cool equanimity that pervades the top floor of Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas, which sits imposingly on the busy thoroughfare.
The central bank's governor, Rafael Buenaventura, Pa Eng to his friends – a nickname is de rigueur in the Philippines – is busy putting the finishing touches to a press release explaining in the simplest terms the difference between debt refinancing and debt restructuring. The text reads like a teacher's gentle admonition of a schoolboy dullard. That would not be so far from the truth. The worrying thing for the future of this nation of over 80 million is that the recalcitrant pupil is Fernando Poe Junior, one of the leading candidates in the May 10 presidential elections.
In a campaign speech in March, the retired movie star, alternatively known as Da King or FPJ, addressed...
This is archived content. Your current settings does not currently allow access to the archive. To gain access visit the subscription page or call our hotline on +44 (0)207 779 8999.
If you are a trialist or subscriber, please enter your username and password at the top right-hand side of euromoney.com
Subscribers to Euromoney benefit from:
Level 1:
- Online access to the past 12 months content
- Tailored RSS news feeds direct to your desktop
- News delivered directly to your mobile device or PC
- Personalised email newsfeed of 'Top stories' and 'Breaking news'
Level 2:
- Exclusive access to euromoney.com - Read the latest issue early online, search for specific developments by region or sector, interrogate the results of Euromoney's benchmark polls, and view the archive dating back to 2000
- 12 monthly issues of Euromoney magazine
- More than 30 specialist research guides free
- The results of Euromoney’s polls and surveys
- Tailored RSS news feeds direct to your desktop
- News delivered directly to your mobile device or PC
- Personalised email newsfeed of 'Top stories' and 'Breaking news'
Click here to subscribe