Philippine budget surplus

Philippine budget surplus

MANILA (Reuter): The Philippine government posted a 12 billion peso (US$496 million) budget surplus for 1994, its first surplus for 20 years, Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo said yesterday.

The surplus compares with an anticipated 1994 deficit of 4.7 billion pesos ($194 million) and an actual 1993 deficit of 20.6 billion pesos ($850 million).

De Ocampo said in a speech before businessmen the surplus arose from a 28.7 percent rise in revenue collections and savings of 6.9 billion pesos ($285 million) in government spending.

The improvement in the budget position of the government follows a strong recovery in the Philippine economy.

Gross national product (GNP) is seen expanding by 5.5 percent in calendar 1994 against 2.3 percent in 1993. The country's GNP is seen rising by 6.5 percent in 1995.

The finance minister added the government had also been able to pay off 43.8 billion pesos ($1.8 billion) of its debt stock, 28 billion pesos ($1.2 billion) of it in domestic debt and 15 billion ($619 million) in external debt.