Philippines' Marcos proposes $118 billion budget for 2027 

MANILA, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked Congress on Tuesday to approve a 7.2 trillion-peso ($118.1 billion) budget for 2027, 6% higher than ‌this year, as his government sought to regain momentum after a sharp economic ‌slowdown and a corruption scandal that has slowed infrastructure spending.

The Philippine economy grew 2.3% in the second quarter ​from a year earlier, its weakest pace since 2021, due to a slump in construction and softer domestic demand. That brought first-half growth to 2.6%, below the 3.5% to 4.5% target for the year.

• Next year's proposed spending plan is equivalent to 21.7% of gross domestic product, ‌the Department of Budget and ⁠Management said.

• Education will continue to receive the biggest share of the budget at 1.15 trillion pesos, though it is down 11.5% from ⁠1.3 trillion pesos this year.

• Healthcare will receive 353.8 billion pesos, 21% lower than the 448.1 billion pesos in the current budget, while funding for agriculture was set at 261.7 billion pesos, ​down ​13% from nearly 300 billion pesos this year.

• ​The Department of Public Works and ‌Highways, which has been at the centre of an infrastructure scandal, will receive 644 billion pesos, up 22% from the 530 billion pesos allocated for 2026. The agency's budget this year was cut by about 40% from a proposed 881 billion pesos amid allegations of irregularities in public works projects.

• Defence spending is proposed to rise to 328.8 billion pesos ‌from 305.5 billion pesos in the current budget, ​an increase of 7.6%.

• The DBM said 316 billion ​pesos, or nearly four-fifths of the ​increase in next year's budget, would be used to cover mandatory ‌obligations, like salary adjustments for military and ​uniformed personnel.

• The government ​expects total disbursements of 6.9 trillion pesos in 2027, against projected revenues of 5.2 trillion pesos, resulting in a fiscal deficit of 1.7 trillion pesos to be ​financed through borrowing, Budget Secretary Kim ‌Robert De Leon told a press conference.

• The government has set a GDP ​growth target of 5.0% to 6.0% for 2027 to 2030.

($1 = 60.9570 Philippine ​pesos)

(Reporting by Nestor Corrales; Editing by David Stanway)