“The President wanted to get the assurance that the priority projects of this administration, projects that [have] been so well identified as critical to achieving that social and economic transformation that it wants to achieve in the medium term are funded in 2025 and that is sustained also in the coming years,” National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Balisacan said in a Palace briefing on Thursday.

Balisacan assured Congress and the administration remain in sync in terms of funding and implementing key projects in the succeeding years.

The NEDA chief also clarified there is no need to impose new tax for the said initiatives at this time, though there are already some new measures that have been identified by the Department of Finance (DOF).

Balisacan said enhancing the existing tax laws is the key to ensure funding of government programs and projects.

“We have a few of those new measures that had been identified in several fora and by (Finance) Secretary Ralph Recto and the DBCC. But the key to enhancing our revenue now is the improvement in the administration of our tax laws,” he said. | PND