The Philippines missed its budget deficit target for the first quarter due to higher spending and lower revenues, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said on Monday.

The national government had a budget deficit of 52 billion pesos (1.08 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, more than the target shortfall of 45.8 billion pesos (958 million U.S. dollars) for the period, according to Teves.

Teves said the national government had a revenue shortfall of 18.5 billion pesos (387 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter. Government spending also increased by 6.5 percent in the first three months of the year.

The government wants to limit its budget deficit this year to 63 billion pesos (1.31 billion U.S. dollars), or 0.9 percent of gross domestic product, before it ends nearly a decade of fiscal gaps in 2008, said Teves.

The Philippines' budget deficit shrank in 2006 to 62.2 billion pesos (1.3 billion U.S. dollars), the lowest in eight years and the third year in a row that the shortfall was below target.

Source: Xinhua