Manila: Finance Secretary Ralph Recto urged members of Congress to adhere to the refined Medium-Term Fiscal Program (MTFP) in the 2026 budget deliberations and ensure that next year's General Appropriations Act (GAA) works as hard as the taxpayers.
According to Philippines News Agency, Recto emphasized operating within the parameters of the Medium-Term Fiscal Program, which aims to gradually reduce the deficit and debt, create jobs, increase income, and decrease poverty. This statement was made during the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) briefing on Monday for the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations regarding the 2026 national budget.
The Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF), initially crafted in 2022, was recalibrated by Recto in 2023 to keep goals "attainable, realistic, adaptive to external challenges and supportive of sustainable growth." The framework also considers the country's recovery from the pandemic while navigating global uncertainties such as conflicts in Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Gaza, and Israel-Iran, along with trade wars.
Recto highlighted that the refined MTFF outlines a realistic path to gradually reduce the country's deficit and debt while creating more jobs, raising incomes, and lifting millions of Filipinos out of poverty. He stated that every peso collected or borrowed would be maximized for the benefit of the Filipino people.
The government is reportedly on track to meet its fiscal targets, with revenue collections growing by double digits over the last three years at an average of 13.8 percent annually. Tax collections also expanded at an average of 11.5 percent annually. From 2025 to 2028, tax revenues are projected to grow 10.2 percent annually, pushing total revenues to nearly PHP6 trillion by the end of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s term and surpassing PHP7 trillion by 2030.
Revenue collections are expected to be bolstered by recently enacted reforms, such as the Value-Added Tax on Digital Services and the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act, along with the soon-to-be-enacted Rationalization of the Mining Fiscal Regime Act and the proposed General Tax Amnesty.
Recto also noted improvements in the country's debt metrics, with the national debt remaining manageable at PHP17.27 trillion as of end-June. The majority of this debt is domestic, long-term, and at fixed interest rates. He mentioned that the national debt is relatively lower compared to major Asian economies and emphasized that borrowed funds are invested in productive projects delivering real benefits to Filipinos.
Recto projected that by strictly adhering to the refined fiscal program and maintaining disciplined spending, the Philippine economy could reach PHP42.6 trillion by 2030 while keeping debt at PHP24.7 trillion, equivalent to 58 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
