Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (Photo:cdn3.i-scmp.com)
Hanoi (VNA) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on August 15 announced an increase of the nation’s budget for next year to assist with the fight against crime.
The Philippine government said next year’s budget will be 3.35 trillion pesos (72.3 billion USD), an increase of 11.6 percent from this year.
Accordingly, the budget for the police force will soar 24.6 percent to 110.4 billion pesos. The amount will be spent on recruiting more officers, raising salaries and equipping them with more guns.
The judiciary’s budget will rise by 21.5 percent, while the military budget is expected to increase 15 percent to 130.6 billion pesos.
The government has not given detailed information on the salary rise for army and police forces; however the President has repeatedly committed to double salaries for the two forces.
Besides this, the President plans to spend 860.7 billion pesos, a hike of 13.8 percent from this year’s budget, to improve infrastructure, including fixing or building roads, railways, seaports and airports.
According to Bloomberg news agency, the Southeast Asian country’s budget increase for next year would lead to a deficit of 478.1 billion pesos or 3 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), higher than an expected 2.7 percent in 2016.-VNA
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (Photo:cdn3.i-scmp.com)
