Dominguez: Budget deficit could hit P1T due to pandemic

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that the Philippines' budget deficit could reach around P1 trillion this year due to increased spending for COVID-19 response and decreased revenue collection.

Dominguez stated that additional funding would come from loans by multilateral lenders such as the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and AIIB, with talks making good progress.

The Duterte administration's four-pillar socioeconomic strategy against COVID-19 requires an additional P310 billion in foreign borrowing on top of the already record-high P1.4 trillion borrowing program for 2020.