January 20, 2002, AFP, Philippines may have slightly overshot budget deficit target,

January 20, 2002, AFP, Philippines may have slightly overshot budget deficit target,

MANILA, Jan 20 (AFP) -

The Philippines was likely to have overshot its calendar 2001 budget deficit target by 1.3 percent to 146.9 billion pesos (2.86 billion dollars), finance department sources said Sunday.

Manila had set a deficit ceiling of 145 billion pesos for 2001, and 130 billion pesos this year. It hopes to balance the budget by calendar 2006.

Finance department sources said preliminary figures showed the customs bureau had missed its full-year target, accounting for the higher than programmed deficit.

"But the 146.9 billion pesos is still a preliminary figure since authorities are still collating data from other revenue-generating agencies," one finance department source said.

The International Monetary Fund has issued several warnings on the need for the Philippine government to widen its revenue base.