Manila to sell corporate assets to cover tax shortfall
Afp, Manila
Substantial Philippine government stakes in the corporate sector including in brewer San Miguel Corp. are to be auctioned to cover shortfalls in tax collection, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said Wednesday. Manila hopes to raise an extra 105 billion pesos (2.26 billion dollars) from the sales to help meet its budget deficit target ceiling of 63 billion pesos this year, or around one percent of gross domestic product. The deficit in 2006 was 64.8 billion pesos. The government's remaining stake in San Miguel should raise 50 billion pesos when it is sold within the next three months, while its shareholdings in the top utility Manila Electric Co. should raise five billion pesos, he added. Teves said the government also intends to push through with the sale of its remaining 60 percent stake in PNOC-Energy Development Corp (PNOC-EDC), a unit of state oil firm Philippine National Oil Co.
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