President Rodrigo Roa Duterte expressed elation Monday as he reported that the Philippines has maintained its BBB+ credit rating although the country’s economy continues to reel from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am happy to report that the Philippines has maintained its credit rating of BBB+,” President Duterte said in a televised address to the nation.

“Hanggang ngayon, ‘yung iba nagbagsakan na and because… Alam mo bakit? Kasi naniwala kayo — iyong iba kasi late nag-lockdown, ‘yung iba kung ano pa. Tayo sunod kaagad sa batas. Pagsabi gawain ‘to… Tapos ang mga trabahante ng gobyerno for the time na wala pang lockdown mahusay. They were really working.”

The President asked the public to give due recognition to hardworking Cabinet members, military and police personnel for helping to achieve such feat.

Early this year, Fitch Ratings upgraded the Philippines’ “BBB” outlook to “positive,” citing the country’s sound macroeconomic environment and fiscal reforms.

The Japan-based Rating and Investments Information Inc. (R&I) also adjusted the country’s rating from “BBB” to “BBB+,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported.

Earlier, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said President Duterte’s effective economic stewardship made the Philippines resilient against the current pandemic.

Upon assuming office in 2016, President Duterte instructed his economic team to manage the economy well through efficient tax collection and prudent spending.

The President has created an economy that can stand a hard-hit and the Filipino public should be grateful, Dominguez said.

“So ang resulta ho noon ay maganda ‘yung position ng economy natin so kaya even though we have a bad luck to have this COVID-19, we are very well-prepared,” he told the President in a meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) in Malacañang. PND