The government hopes to raise some P21 billion from the sale of two big-ticket assets by the third quarter of the year as it aims to keep the country's budget deficit within target.

In a media briefing Wednesday, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government eyes to sell its Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) property as well as its 100 percent interest in PNOC-Exploration Corp. before June ends, or at worst, within the third quarter.

FTI is a 120-hectare agro-industrial commercial estate in Taguig City which houses over 300 small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing and export sectors.

PNOC-EC, on the other hand, is the oil and gas subsidiary of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. It is also engaged in coal mining, production and trading, and port operations.

Teves said they could generate P10 billion from the sale of the FTI property and P11 billion from the PNOC-EC stake.

The privatization of both assets was originally scheduled for last year but was deferred due to volatile market conditions brought about by the financial turmoil in the US.

This year, the government targets to raise P30 billion in privatization proceeds, lower than the P31.3 billion in 2008 and P90.6 billion in 2007.

The Philippines has set a budget deficit ceiling of P199.2 billion or 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2009, up from the revised estimate of P177.2 billion or 2.2 percent of GDP, as it accelerates spending to spur the economy.

For the first three months, it incurred a shortfall of P119.7 billion, nearly two-thirds of the full-year target, after posting a P52.6 billion deficit in March alone. The government was targeting a deficit of only P110 billion for the first quarter.

The country's economic managers said the wider-than-expected budget gap can also be attributed to poor tax take due to slowing business activity and job cuts.

Earlier, socio-economic planning secretary Ralph Recto said the 2009 budget deficit could widen to as much as P257 billion or about 3 percent of GDP if tax collections fall short of target and the government fails to sell assets.

The government earlier aimed to balance the budget by 2010, but postponed the target indefinitely.