Finance Secretary Margarito Teves yesterday assured investors that the government was sticking to its fiscal program aimed at trimming the budget deficit to P125 billion this year. Teves, fresh from a nondeal road show in London and Washington, told reporters that the government was looking at several options to cushion the impact of surging oil prices in the world market.
“We need to raise more revenues to finance infrastructure and social services in order to try to achieve our level of economic growth and at the same time (address) fiscal concern,” he said. National Treasurer Omar Cruz told reporters in a separate interview that the government had not departed from its fiscal program that aims to narrow the budget deficit to P125 billion or 2.1 percent of gross domestic product this year from P146.5 billion or 2.7 percent of GDP last year. “There is no departure from the fiscal program. No decision or no policy decision has been made,” Cruz said. Of the entire P75 billion proceeds from the implementation of the new VAT law, Andaya said 30 percent or P22.7 billion would be used to finance infrastructure and social services while 70 percent or P52.5 billion would be used to trim the budget deficit.