Tag: Budget

Britain pledges £30 bn package to combat coronavirus

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain unveiled Wednesday a package of stimulus measures worth £30 billion ($39 billion, 34.4 billion euros) to fight the growing threat from the coronavirus epidemic to the economy. “I am announcing today in total a £30-billion fiscal stimulus to support British people, British jobs and British businesses through this moment. And of course, if further action is needed if the situation evolves… I will not hesitate to act,” finance minister […]

Merkel says, open to scrapping zero-deficit rule to fight virus

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled Wednesday that she does not rule out suspending a self-imposed dogma of keeping Germany’s budget balanced in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak. “It is an extraordinary situation, we will do what’s necessary and luckily Germany is relatively robust… we see at the end of that where our budget stands,” she said, stressing that ending the virus crisis “comes first”. Maintaining a balanced or “black zero” budget […]

House leadership vows to give “highest priority” to P30-B supplemental budget for Taal victims

(Eagle News) — The House of Representatives leadership on Tuesday, Jan. 21, vowed to give the “highest priority” to expediting the passage of a  P30-billion supplemental budget in additional relief to Taal victims. House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez issued the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte himself issued the call for the same. “If need be, the House leadership is even willing to increase the amount of the supplemental budget to as much as P50 billion […]

Assad approves $9.2 billon budget

DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday approved a $9.2-billion budget for his war-torn country, official media reported. The 2020 budget, approved by Syria’s parliament before being signed off by Assad, sees the country’s deficit rise by 54 percent compared to the current budget, according to the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan. The country’s devastating eight-year war has inflicted damage estimated by the United Nations last year at some $400 billion. The Syrian pound […]

Binay wants increased environmental surveillance budget for RITM

(Eagle News)–Senator Nancy Binay is seeking for an increase in the budget for environmental surveillance of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine. Binay wants P248 million for the RITM, which she said was key in detecting the re-emergence of the polio virus. She said this was despite the fact  its budget for environmental surveillance was cut from P198 million in 2019 to P118 million for next year. “Bakit na instead of lauding the RITM for […]

Lacson says he’ll continue probe on alleged “pork” insertion attempt by the Lower House in nat’l budget

https://youtu.be/EyzvG1xhACI   (Eagle News) – Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said he would continue his investigation of the latest attempt by the House of Representatives to insert what he termed as “pork barrel” in the 2020 proposed national budget. Lacson said that while the lawmakers had alleged withdrew the alleged “pork” insertions in the proposed budget, he is still questioning why the House had created a so-called “small group committee” regarding the budget after it had […]

Lacson asks public for help in ensuring “pork-free” 2020 national budget

(Eagle News)–Senator Panfilo Lacson is seeking the help of the public in ensuring that the 2020 national budget remains “pork-free.” “Any technical support from the outside will certainly help in our scrutiny of the 2020 budget books,” Lacson said in response to a question about whether or not his staff knew financial forensics. According to Lacson, budget deliberations start this week in the 18th Congress. “It is time to play another protracted game of “hide-and-seek”: they […]

Senate receives P4.1-trillion National Expenditure Program for 2020

(Eagle News)–The Senate has received a copy of the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020. The National Expenditure Program was given to Senate President Tito Sotto by Acting Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado. Also present were Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senate Finance committee chair Edgardo Angara and Senator Panfilo Lacson. The government operated on a reenacted budget for the first few months of this year due to an impasse in Congress. […]

Duterte sending the message “You follow the Constitution” in vetoing P95.3-B insertions in nat’l budget, says Palace

  (Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte wants to send a message that he will not ever tolerate any “deviation from the Constitution” in vetoing some P95.3 billion in lawmakers’ insertions from the 2019 national budget. “They’re in violation of the Constitution, whether you call it pork, or beef or meat or fish. Those provisions are violative of the basic charter,” said Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo. “The message is always you follow the Constitution. Any […]

Lacson, Gatchalian laud President Duterte’s veto of over P95 billion worth of items in nat’l budget

(Eagle News)–Senators Panfilo Lacson and Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday, April 15, lauded President Rodrigo Duterte’s veto of more than P95 billion worth of items in the budget bill, which he has signed. In a statement, Lacson, who has been very vocal against what he said were the “illegal alignments” made by House lawmakers, commended Duterte and his economic managers  “for coming up with a ‘pork-free’ national budget.” “I have to see the veto message first […]

UPDATED: No more budget impasse as Sotto signs budget bill enrolled by House but “with reservations”

(Eagle News)–The deadlock over the proposed national budget between the Senate and the House of Representatives was finally broken with Senate President Tito Sotto signing the enrolled budget bill of the House as is but “with reservations.” Sotto clarified in a press conference on Tuesday, March 26,  that even with the signing, the Senate was still against the “alignments” made by the House of Representatives in the version ratified by the Senate and the House. […]

Andaya: House leadership to retrieve 2019 budget books from Senate; team formed to resolve contentious issues

  (Eagle News) – The leadership of the House of Representatives has decided to retrieve the 2019 budget documents it had submitted to the Senate in an attempt to resolve the long-standing budget impasse. In a statement, appropriations panel chair Rolando Andaya Jr., said that the Secretary General had been sent to the Senate “retrieve the budget books.” But he clarified that this does not mean that the House was “withdrawing of backtracking” from their […]