PHILIPPINES SEES 1987 GOVERNMENT REVENUE UP 26 PCT
  Philippine government revenue is
  expected to rise 26 pct to 99.9 billion pesos this year from
  79.1 billion in 1986, Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin said.
      In a report to President Corazon Aquino on his department's
  performance during the year ended February 28, Ongpin said at
  least 15.9 billion pesos were expected to accrue from new tax
  reform measures announced last year.
      He said the goal for official development assistance (ODA)
  this year is two billion dlrs, adding that aid donors have
  committed ODA inflows of 1.7 billion dlrs in 1987, up 30 pct
  from 1.3 billion in 1986.
      Ongpin said steps planned to provide a sound revenue base
  included a value added tax (VAT) system due to be introduced in
  1988. He gave no other details.
      He said treasury bill maturities, interest rate levels and
  the volume of government securities sold to the private sector
  have improved significantly. "In particular, short-term prime
  interest rates which had gone over 40 pct in 1985, are now down
  to less than 10 pct," he said.
      Ongpin said the government's debt-equity scheme, introduced
  in August last year, had attracted more than 276 mln dlrs worth
  of applications, but selective evaluation had resulted in
  approvals of only 61.8 mln dlrs at end-February.
      He said his department aims to accelerate its privatisation
  program and the sale of non-performing assets owned by
  associates of former President Ferdinand Marcos to achieve a
  1987 sales target of four billion pesos which would help
  finance land reform.
      Aquino said earlier this month that all the 24 billion
  pesos the government hopes to raise from the sale of the failed
  companies will be used to finance the land reform plan.
      Ongpin also said the government would pursue efforts to
  obtain 500 mln dlrs in concessional funding for the program
  from a World Bank-led consultative group of multilateral and
  bilateral aid donors.
      The government has said the land reform plan aims to
  distribute 9.7 mln hectares of land to poor peasants.
  

