Indonesia and Philippines come of age

Emerging Markets ReportIndonesia and Philippines come of age Last Update: 11:42 AM ET Sep 27, 2012 JAKARTA, INDONESIA (MarketWatch) — During the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, Indonesia and the Philippines were bailed out by the International Monetary Fund. This year, they showed the world how far they’ve come from those dark days by pledging a billion dollars each to replenish the IMF’s kitty. With rapidly growing economies and rising incomes, the two countries are home to a large and young labor force, an expanding middle class and have stable, elected governments with policies inspiring investor confidence. They also have sturdy banks and enough foreign-exchange reserves — more than a year’s imports in the Philippines’s case — to rebuff a misguided run on their currencies... Read the rest of the story