MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines expects to post its highest quarterly budget deficit this year of P110.94 billion ($2.4 billion) in the first 3 months, data from the Department of Finance showed on Monday.

The Southeast Asian country has said this year's budget deficit will likely reach a record P293.2 billion, or 3.5% of GDP, after an estimated budget gap of P290 billion, or 3.7% of GDP in 2009.

The government is considering lowering the revenue targets of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BoC) this year by about 5% and 11%, respectively, from the goals set under the originally proposed 2010 budget due to a slower than expected economic recovery.

Manila plans to bridge the budget gap through the sale of state assets, including a 60% stake in oil-and-gas explorer PNOC-Exploration Corp, and an increase in foreign debt issuances.

It is looking to raise $4.95 billion overseas, $2.5 billion of which could come from debt issues. Manila is preparing a yen bond sale of at least $500 million next month.