The Finance Department disclosed a plan to reduce government debt to 35 percent of gross domestic product by 2022, despite the increase in public spending under the Duterte administration.
National government debt stood at 44.8 percent as of end-2015, data showed.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III assured local and foreign investors and fund managers that the intended increase in public spending would go hand in hand with a strict observance of fiscal discipline.
Dominguez said the targeted budget-deficit ceiling of 3 percent of GDP up to 2022 would be religiously observed.
“We are fortunate that the last two administrations have managed government finances well, as this has given us headroom for higher public spending… We will absolutely make sure we do not breach the deficit ceiling,” Dominguez said.
The deficit-to-GDP ceiling of 3 percent set by President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic team is a percentage point higher than the 2-percent limit set by the Aquino administration.
The new economic team cited plans to significantly boost government spending on infrastructure, which Dominguez described as the country’s next pillar of growth.
Dominguez said infrastructure spending would cover the sub-areas of logistics and transportation, information technology, telecommunications and power. It will also focus on areas outside Metro Manila to achieve a more geographically broad-based economic growth.
The government also aims to reduce poverty incidence from 26.3 percent in the first semester of 2015 to 17 percent by 2022.