Philippines

May 2008 | Ratings Update

The government has temporarily halted the conversion of agricultural land for the purposes of real estate, retail, and leisure development, and other uses, in order to maximise land available for crop production, as the country grapples with rising demand for rice. In addition, the administration is considering stopping the conversion of rice fields into the production of other crops (e.g. for biofuels). These directives are unsurprising given that the Philippines is the world's biggest importer of rice, and that the recent surge in rice prices threatens to drive inflation even higher than April's figure of 8.3% y-o-y.

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