Approaching Fiscal Year and the state of economy
FIRST DBCC BUDGET HEARING: BE ACCURATE AND SEND
THE RIGHT SIGNAL - ANGARA

Senator Edgardo J. Angara yesterday convened the Senate Committee on Finance and the Development Budget Coordinating Council (DBCC) to lay down the figures and strategize properly for a balance and well planed Financial Year.

"The 2010 budget is very crucial. Not only will it determine the success of the administration targeting to finish all on going projects but also what the next administration will face given our present state," said Angara who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance.

The Macroeconomic assumption shows that our GNP, GDP, Inflation, CPI, Treasury Bill Rate, Crude Oil Price, Exports and Import rates tremendously increased except for Foreign Exchange Rate which stays at a 46-49 forecast for 2010. This is what NEDA Acting Secretary Augusto Santos reported before the committee and said that trade, tourism, construction, mining and quarrying, government service and air transportation served as the growth drivers 0f 2009.

Despite the report of the agencies present saying that the country is already recovering if not fully recovered from the global crisis Angara urged for a prioritization of budget and called on Secretaries not to be too optimistic and continue to strive so the country can fully recover.

"Never be satisfied with just maintaining what has been done and accomplished. There can never be any time where there is no room for improvement. The moment we think that we have achieved perfection is the moment where our failure begins," said Angara who calls for continued effort for RP's full recovery from the global financial crisis.

The current total debt coming from domestic and foreign sums up to 4.259 Trillion and the government is left only with 346.1 Billion discretionary fund.

Agriculture, health and education are what Angara suggests to be prioritized in the 2010 budget.

The Senator said that the 2010 General Appropriations should be crafted not only in the context of the global crisis, but more importantly it should be linked to the country's effort to achieve global competitiveness.

"Strong agricultural sector can bring proper food on the table. Hence, the next generation will be healthier and fit to lead the country globally competitive," said Angara former President of the University of the Philippines.

There are no changes or adjustments yet, Angara said that "we are still discussing the economic assumptions. We haven't gotten down to the nitty-gritty, to the specifics of each department's budget. When we get to the individual department budget, that's when the time that perhaps we either realign and/or increase other department's budget like education and health as we keep emphasizing, or we've got some other department's budget to give it to what we consider our priority areas.

Budget hearing with DBCC continues today at the Senate at 1pm.