Abad also said in a Palace news briefing that the Philippines is likely to save P30 billion in interest payments because of the credit-rating upgrades that it had so far received.

Asked whether the Philippines can get investment grade early next year, Abad said, “That is our wish, because we were told that they are going to make the evaluation either toward the end of the year or sometime early next year. So we do hope that we get that upgrade sometime next year.”

He volunteered that the Philippines has been benefiting from the credit-rating upgrades it has received under the current administration in terms of lower interest payments.

“We are likely going to save as much as P30 billion from interest payments in 2011 because of lower interest payments as well as our liability management policies so I think that’s a very big lift insofar as the government is concerned,” Abad said.

On getting investment grade, Abad based his confidence on the recent meeting the economic managers had with Moody’s Investor Service in Washington DC,

“By nature, they do not tell you upfront what they intend to do after meeting with them but by the way they were fielding questions, they seem to be very satisfied with the developments going on in the country both in terms of our management of our monetary policies as well as our fiscal consolidation program, more particularly our liability management program,” he said.

Abad echoed the statement of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima that “there is a good chance that we may be able to get that investment grade that has been eluding us for some time which we feel we are entitled to considering what we have gained by way of those areas of financial management.”

When asked, Abad said that the economic managers were able to convince the credit rating agencies that the government can manage its deficit without having to raise taxes.

He said that at the time the meetings were held, the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of the Treasury generated higher than expected revenues.

“On the average all the revenue generation agencies registered a 15 percent increase in their revenues. So that coupled with our prudent spending certainly gives them an assurance that we will stay well within our deficit cap commitments,” Abad said.

On the possible review of macroeconomic targets, Abad said that the Executive Technical Board had to postpone the submission of its recommendation to the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) because of Typhoon Pedring, but a DBCC meeting is being eyed before October 10.

On the allegation of Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman that the Aquino administration has been “irresponsible” in preparing the budget, Abad said the best proof that this is not so are the credit-rating upgrades that the Philippines has received under this administration.

“If you go by the assessment of the rating agencies, I think that is the most objective way by which you can describe the way responsibly and prudently we have managed the government’s fiscal resources,” Abad said.