Budget the balance next year, IMF advises

Balancing the budget would of necessity mean curtailing expenditure and raising revenues and in a year with declining diamond earnings, analysts believe the latter may point to higher taxes and tighter collections. The advice comes as government faces a P7.8 billion deficit in the current fiscal year, with another budget shortfall of P6.9 billion forecast for the coming year, 2020-2021.

The country has incurred running fiscal deficits since the start of NDP 11 in 2017-2018, which have cumulatively totalled P16.1 billion, excluding the shortfall forecast for the current fiscal year.