Philippine posts $166 mln budget surplus in April

Published: 17 May 2009 22:48:13 PST

MANILA, May 18 - The Philippines recorded a budget surplus of 7.9 billion pesos ($166 million) in April, normally the year's biggest tax collection month, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said on Monday.

The fiscal surfeit in April brought the deficit for the first four months of the year to 111.8 billion pesos.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves told reporters there was "a slight decline in revenues and slower than expected growth in expenditure".

The government is looking at a budget deficit of 199.2 billion pesos this year, or 2.5 percent of gross domestic product, compared to a previous forecast of 177 billion pesos. Last year's budget shortfall reached 68.1 billion pesos, or 0.9 percent of GDP.