The economic team will work with Congress on identifying funding sources should there be another round of Bayanihan stimulus package this year to ensure this will not further widen the deficit, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said.
Dominguez told reporters via Viber the Department of Finance has not proposed any tax hikes to increase revenue collections.
“We have taken actions to increase the dividend remittance of government-owned and -controlled corporations to generate more funds. As of end-May 2021, collections from dividend remittances have already reached P31.38 billion. We target to collect P47.17 billion in remittances for this year,” Dominguez said.
“In addition, the President has issued Administrative Order No. 41 directing all agencies to identify savings from their respective appropriations under the 2020 national budget,” he added.
The finance chief said these steps will ensure that any additional stimulus package would be adequately funded and backed up by available financial resources.
“Our goal, in keeping with the President’s policy of prudent fiscal management, is to keep our budget deficit within a manageable level. Hence, we want any additional expenditure to be deficit neutral,” Dominguez said.
In a Senate hearing last Tuesday, Dominguez said the administration is “very concerned” about the rise in hunger and in poverty, and that these must be addressed soon.
“In that manner, we are in favor of a piece of legislation focused on those two issues: hunger and poverty,” he said.
However, the budget gap is expected to widen to P1.86 trillion this year, or about 36 percent higher than last year. This is about 9.3 percent of gross domestic product.
“Any additional expenditures have to have some source of funds. We are looking at additional collections over-and-above our budget,” Dominguez said during the Senate hearing.
“If there are any potential revenue-raising measures that the House and the Senate will propose then we are also open to that, but the principle is we have to keep our fiscal deficit at the point that it is now. It will be very, very unsustainable if we have a fiscal deficit higher than what we estimate this year,” he added. — Angela Celis
