ADB plays down PH debt trap concerns

NADI, Fiji — “Debt trap” fears over foreign financing from development partners like China and Japan should not be a “big concern” as long as borrowings are “sustainable,” a top economist from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Wednesday.

Having debts is “not necessarily a bad idea … if government is meet[ing] a potential demand of the economy and eliminating infrastructure bottlenecks,” chief economist Yasuyuki Sawada said at a press conference on the sidelines of the ADB’s 52nd Annual Meeting.

Sawada said the Philippine economy was being driven by government investment in public goods, services and infrastructure.

“I think as long as debt is sustainable, this is a very important government initiative we need to support,” he added. —Ben O. de Vera