Marcos economic team to revisit targets
President Marcos’ economic team will soon convene to review its macroeconomic and fiscal targets, as policymakers seek to incorporate the latest developments, including the administration’s planned tax reforms.
Speaking to reporters, Romeo Balanquit, assistant secretary at the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), said the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) will meet in November to revisit the targets.
The DBCC is chaired by the secretary of DBM.
Balanquit said the meeting would discuss the impact of the Department of Finance’s proposed tax reform package on the revenue target of the government.
On spending, he said policymakers would unlikely make any adjustments as the current level is already deemed supportive of economic growth without straining the government’s fiscal space.
“We would be able to adjust some estimates on the revenue side,” Balanquit said. “On expenditure, we cannot afford to even lower it further.”
2026 target
Malacañang has said Mr. Marcos wanted to have a tax reform package—projected to raise P518.71 billion between 2027 and 2030—enacted this year.
The plan includes higher levies on sweetened drinks, tobacco and alcohol, single-use plastics and wealth.
This is expected to more than compensate for the estimated P326.92 billion the government expects to forgo by expanding personal income tax exemptions and exempting small businesses from the minimum corporate income tax.
The Marcos administration has set a P1.658-trillion budget deficit ceiling for this year, equivalent to 5.4 percent of gross domestic product.
Meanwhile, the government is aspiring for economic growth of between 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent this year.
But in the first half, growth averaged only 2.6 percent as the conflict in the Middle East intensified and government spending remained weak following a major corruption scandal.
Infrastructure spending contracted 32.4 percent during the period, while household consumption growth slowed to 2.8 percent.
