Philippines Plans Spending Jump to Counter Europe, Abad Says

The Philippines is preparing a surge in state spending in coming months that will widen its budget deficit in 2012 as the government seeks to shield the economy from the European crisis, Budget Secretary Butch Abad said.

The 2011 shortfall will be 150 billion pesos ($3.4 billion) to 180 billion pesos, Abad, 57, said in an interview late yesterday in Manila. The estimate is more than double the 74.3 billion-peso deficit in the ten months through October, and compares with a previous forecast of 260.6 billion pesos. The gap may reach 286 billion pesos next year, or 2.6 percent of gross domestic product, he said, reiterating an earlier estimate.