Philippines says to stick to budget deficit target

Published: 13 Oct 2009 17:17:31 PST

MANILA, Oct 14 - The Philippines will maintain a 2009 budget deficit target of 250 billion pesos ($5.4 billion), a record high, despite the costs of rebuilding typhoon-hit areas in the north, the finance chief said on Wednesday.

Congress has authorised the government to spend 12 billion pesos more on typhoon relief this year after two storms since late last month devastated crops and infrastructure worth at least 23 billion pesos.

"We will still try to live with the 250 billion pesos," Finance Secretary Margarito Teves told reporters at a briefing.

He said the bulk of the spending was likely to take place in the first quarter of next year, while a stream of international aid would partly offset the expenditure.