MANILA -- An economist laud the effort of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to bare the real status of the country’s coffers in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last Monday.
“Well, I think it’s important that he brought to our attention the budget of the country since that is a pillar of macroeconomic management,” Cid Terrosa, professor at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) told Sun.Star.
In his Sona, President Aquino said he inherited a cash-strapped government from then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after only 6.5 percent or around P100 billion of the P1.54 trillion national budget is left.
The President attributed the bad fiscal position to overspending and corruption.
“In the first six months of this year, government expenditure exceeded our revenues. Our deficit further increased to PhP196.7 billion. Our collection targets, which lack PhP23.8 billion, were not fully met, while we went beyond our spending by PhP45.1 billion,” said Aquino. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)