Manila offers '98 budget

Manila offers '98 budget

MANILA (Reuter): The Philippine government is set to propose to Congress a 541 billion peso national budget for 1998, the Department of Budget and Management said over the weekend.

The proposed budget, which is 10 percent bigger than the 1997 appropriated budget, would be approved in a Cabinet meeting scheduled on Monday. The Congress will then review, realign and approve the budget.

The proposed budget provides for a 16 billion peso surplus, up from the 14.7 billion peso targeted surplus for this year, budget secretary Salvador Enriquez said in a statement.

"A healthy fiscal position is a basic factor to ensure positive growth," Enriquez said.

He said 85 percent of the budget had been programmed for productive expenditures, while the rest would be for interest payments and lending to state-run agencies and government controlled corporations.