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.