Philippines 2007 budget deficit not to exceed 63 bln peso ceiling- finance chief

Philippines 2007 budget deficit not to exceed 63 bln peso ceiling- finance chief

	Published : Wed, 11 Jul 2007 05:03 By : Agencies Print this Story

MANILA (Thomson Financial) - Philippine Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said Wednesday he remains confident that the government's budget deficit for 2007 would not exceed the targeted ceiling of 0.9 percent of gross domestic product or 63 billion pesos, despite poor tax collections in the first half.

Tax collections in the first six months were 53 billion pesos below the target for the first half.

Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri was quoted by local media as saying that under the government's original medium-term macroeconomic targets, the budget deficit target for this year should be around 2 percent of GDP.

Neri described the finance department's deficit target for this year as 'ambitious.'

Teves, however, is confident that budget deficit target will not be overshot. 'We are complementing our intensified tax collection efforts with aggressive privatization and more effective programs versus tax evaders to boost revenues,' Teves told reporters.

The finance chief said he expects the sale of big-ticket government assets within the year to raise additional revenue for the government of 100 billion pesos.

These assets include the government's stakes in PNOC Energy Development Corp, power distributor Manila Electric Co (Meralco) and food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corp.

State-owned Philippine National Oil Co (PNOC) completed on Tuesday a secondary offering of a 20 percent stake in PNOC-EDC, its geothermal power producer unit, raising 17.1 billion pesos for the government.

Teves last month said the government also plans to sell its remaining 60 percent-plus stake in PNOC-EDC in two batches within the year.

(1 US dollar = 46.14 pesos)

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