THE Department of Finance (DoF) said the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) returned a total of P5.2 billion to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) in the first half of 2021.

The DoF said in a statement on Tuesday that the PITC's payment was in response to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd's request to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last year for the state-run firm to return its interest earnings to the BTr and funds for projects that have not been bid out or suspended in order to supplement the government's funds for Covid-19 response and disaster relief efforts.