Teves vows Q4 turnaround to achieve P182M surplus

03/31/2009

The government’s stimulus package will help reverse the budget balance to achieve a P182 million surplus in the last quarter, according to Finance Secretary Margarito Teves.

Teves told reporters the government had frontloaded spending in the first half and of the P177.2 billion deficit target this year, P110 billion is eyed for the first quarter, P33.7 billion in the second quarter and P33.5 billion in the third quarter.

In the first two months of the year, the government incurred a budget deficit of P67 billion, more than double than year-ago’s P32.9 billion because of higher spending and weaker revenue collection.

“Hopefully things will be better in the second half,” he said.

The government is firm in implementing its P330-billion fiscal stimulus package in the first half of the year to ensure growth of the economy amid the global economic and financial stress.

Teves said they expect the external factors to bring positive developments to the domestic economy as governments around the globe implement their respective fiscal stimulus program to lift their economies.

Action plans of government tax collection agencies, namely Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs are also expected to augment government coffers, Teves said.

Revenues from privatization of government assets are not expected in the first quarter, he said.

Teves said sale of big ticket items like the government shares in Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. and the Food Terminal Inc. will not be done until the first half of the year.

Finance Undersecretary Crisanta Legazpi added privatization proceeds in the second half will be small as only small real estate assets of the government in Makati are scheduled to be sold in the second half.

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