The Filipino government is set to borrow USD 1.7 billion from prospective local and foreign lenders to fund more infrastructure projects and initiate capacity development program for human resources in 2018. The announcement came when the Bureau of Treasury told the public that the government is finding ways to address the budget deficit next year.
Bureau of Treasury National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon told journalists that the proposed budget next year will be 22.27% higher that this year's revised ceiling budget.
De Leon said that the government will adopt the 80:20 mix in 2018 where 80% of the borrowed money will come from domestic lenders while 20% will be borrowed from external lenders.
The Filipino economic managers will also have to see the emerging developments in the market because the South Asian country will still have to learn the process and learn the market.
The Duterte administration has publicly announced this year, that it is planning to construct massive infrastructure with the assistance from China.
Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte earlier visited China and announced that Asian giant will be lending USD 24 billion soft loan assistance to the Philippines.
Duterte also announced that USD 200 million will be allocated to rehabilitate Marawi City and help it recover from the damages caused by the armed conflict, between Filipino soldiers and Maute militants, that claimed more than 300 lives and displaced more than 300,000 residents.
Among the infrastructure projects, the Duterte administration is considering a subways system in Metro Manila and the Mindanao Railways System.
The budget eyed for next year is to accelerate poverty reduction to transform the Philippines into a middle-income country by 2022. The Duterte administration through its program Dutertenomics aims to reduce poverty from 21.6 per cent in 2015 to 13 per cent by 2022.
