Aquino says 2010 budget depleted

President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino on Friday expressed concern over a depleted national budget inherited from the previous administration, but a senior socioeconomic planning official remained confident that enough funding could be obtained to achieve this year’s growth target. "I’m not comfortable [discussing the available budget] because you will be surprised with what is left. There is a big difference compared with the P1.54 trillion [total outlay for this year]," Mr. Aquino said on Friday following turnover ceremonies at the Philippine Army headquarters in Taguig City. He claimed the Arroyo administration had left only a little over P500 billion, of which some P300 billion has already been earmarked for automatic appropriations. "The [budget] was not actually left for disposal. It was left with commitments" Mr. Aquino said. National Economic Development Authority acting director-general Augusto B. Santos, however, said domestic borrowings could support the expenses of the government. Economists concurred that continued spending could boost the economy but cautioned that the Aquino administration should carefully choose which projects to prioritize. "We have the government’s decision to increase deficit spending to P325 billion from P300 billion," Mr. Santos said in a telephone interview. "We’re confident [that we can achieve the 5-6% growth target for this year]... Borrowing [could be done] to finance the government’s expenses. University of the Philippines economist Benjamin E. Diokno said the Aquino administration should identify a socially desirable subject, and also "show they have a spending and taxing plan to reduce the deficit to 2% of GDP by 2016." Economist Peter Lee U of the University of Asia and the Pacific said: "A fair amount of spending could be done with a consideration of the quality of spending. [The government] could also resort to raise taxes but that could not be done quickly. It is also possible to borrow." Mr. Aquino said he had asked the Budget department to review the situation and indicated that the matter could be raised during his first State of the Nation address on Monday. "I want to caution because you might say [our] computation was inaccurate. So, I asked them [budget department] to resharpen their pencils and do the computation again... It’s still a work in progress so maybe on Monday it will significantly change," he said. - BusinessWorld