On November 14 the Philippines' government announced
that it would launch a global bond deal the next day. It
wasn't what the market was expecting. Just a month earlier
national treasurer Sergio Edeza had postponed until early
2003 the $1 billion bond deal that had been expected before
the end of this year. He claimed that the country probably
wouldn't need more funding for the rest of the year and could
already finance shortfalls of up to P90 billion.
The new circumstance was yet another breach of the
republic's fiscal deficit target. President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo's government revealed...
