Philippines posts $1.4bn budget deficit in June

MANILA: The Philippines had a budget deficit of 62.5 billion pesos ($1.4 billion) in June, wider by more than 600 percent against the year-ago deficit of 8.5 billion pesos, the Department of Finance said on Monday.

It posted a first-half budget deficit of 54 billion pesos, just a fifth of the full-year deficit target of 266 billion pesos, equivalent to 2 percent of GDP.

Last year's shortfall was 164.1 billion pesos, or 1.4 percent of GDP.