MANILA: The Philippines’ main tax agency said on Tuesday it aimed to collect a record high 1.829 trillion pesos (S$52.558 billion) this year, as higher infrastructure spending was expected deliver strong economic growth. The revenue target represents a big jump from last year, with collections as of November totalling 1.45 trillion pesos.
The government has a 3.35 trillion peso budget this year, 11.6 per cent higher than last year’s spending plan, allowing it to spend more on roads, bridges and airports and meet a 6.5 to 7.5 per cent economic growth target. “We are quite bullish in terms of our outlook for 2017,” Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner, Caesar Dulay, told a news conference.
“With that kind of spending, automatically we foresee an increase in collection for this year.” Building infrastructure is one of President Rodrigo Duterte’s priorities.
