NEWSFLASH

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RP FISCAL SURPLUS P7 BILLION -- DE OCAMPO

Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 5, 1997 - Philippine Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo is confident that the government will have at least $7 billion in fiscal surplus at the end of the year despite shortfalls in revenue collection.

De Ocampo spoke to newsmen at the ASEAN Finance Ministers meeting and said the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs could still compensate by taking care of the backlog in their collections during the first ten months.

He also created a task force composed of BIR and BOC officials to concentrate all efforts to generate a surplus. De Ocampo said the Philippines will request the IMF to waive the P13-billion fiscal surplus target for this year.

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