Government set to review macro targets for this year

MANILA, Philippines –  The Aquino administration is set to review the government’s macroeconomic targets for the year, taking into account the global economic recovery and expected recovery in agriculture.

Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said the government’s economic managers would meet next week to review the targets set for the year.

“The [interagency] Development Budget and Coordination Committee [DBCC] will discuss next week whether there is a need to revise the economic targets for this year,” Abad said.

The meeting also aims to discuss the impact of the government’s Public-Private Partnership for infrastructure initiative. Under the scheme, the government would be partnering with private investors for PPP projects.

Abad believes that with the PPP of the current administration, the government is optimistic it would be able to sustain a robust economy.

In terms of specific economic targets, Abad said the government should have a “return to basics as the government is facing no elections this year.”

“And we all know that elections play an integral role in spurring economic activities,” he added.

The official gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection for 2011 is a growth of between seven percent and eight percent.

On the fiscal side, Abad said the DBCC would also look into the target of P290 billion or 3.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and whether or not this should be lowered. For 2010, the government expects to have contained the budget gap within the P325-billion deficit ceiling or 3.9 percent of GDP.

In relation to this, Abad said that DBCC would also review the outstanding revenue performance of both the Bureaus of Internal Revenue and Customs, and whether the present collection goals are sufficient to support the government’s budgetary needs.

Last year, the BIR was tasked to collect P860 billion, while Customs’ revenue goal is P280 billion. Both agencies, however, have already conceded that the targets would not be achieved, saying that these are too high.