Roubini: PH, Indonesia better than ‘hyped up’ BRICs

MANILA, Philippines – World-renowned economist Nouriel Roubini lauded the Philippines and Indonesia for “doing more” in reforming and growing their economies during a Bloomberg interview in Davos and in his social media account.  

The New York University professor, who is coming to Manila to speak at an investment summit, said he favors the two countries over China and India, current members of the so-called BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

On Monday, January 28, he tweeted this:

The Philippines and Indonesia are much better Asian long term growth stories than the excessively hyped China and India

— Nouriel Roubini (@Nouriel) January 28, 2013

“They are actually doing more in terms of structural reform,” Roubini previously explained to Bloomberg. “The economies are growing more than 6%,” even higher than the average 5% global growth the developing economies are projected to grow this 2013, and way faster than the 1% estimated pace of growth for the advanced nations.

On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Roubini — called Dr. Doom for saying hard times are coming before the 2008 financial crisis — described during the Bloomberg interview the BRIC nations’ successes as being “hyped up too much.”

“Too much state role in enterprises, banks, resource nationalization, protectionism, lack of structural market-oriented reforms that increase the size of the private sector — this is happening in most of the BRICs,” he said.

He said China still controls its biggest corporate players, while Russia is dealing with woes of state-owned Gazprom. For Brazil, he cited how politicians intervened to reduce utility rates, while India risked a credit rating downgrade when the government insisted on foreign investment caps,

The Philippines, on the other hand, has been pushing for reforms, marked by the historic passage of the sin tax reform law. The economy grew 7.1% in the 3rd quarter of 2012, the fastest among Southeast Asian countries. 

The Philippines’ full year economic performance will be announced on January 31.

Roubini has also promoted the standing of the economy of Indonesia, which was recently upgraded to investment grade. It is anticipated that Roubini’s pronouncements at the Manila summit could well be the catalysts for the much anticipated ratings upgrade of the Philippines in 2013. – Rappler.com