PH budget gap widened in 2025 to P1.58T
The Philippine government exceeded its budget deficit target for 2025 as the shortfall widened by nearly five percent amid softer revenue collections.
In its latest cash operations report, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said the full-year deficit widened 4.68 percent to P1.58 trillion, above the P1.56-trillion program set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee and the P1.51 trillion recorded in 2024.
Total revenue collections reached P4.45 trillion, up 0.78 percent from 2024, but fell short of the 2025 program by nearly 2 percent.
Missed targets
The government collected P4.08 trillion in taxes, about P130 billion below target, as both the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs missed their targets by 3.41 percent and 2.72 percent, respectively.
“The BIR underperformance was partly due to a pause in payments for infrastructure-related government contracts amid investigations into flood control projects,” the BTr said.
On the expenditure side, the government spent P6.03 trillion in 2025, higher than the previous year.
However, overall spending remained below the programmed level of P6.08 trillion due to tighter oversight of infrastructure projects linked to the flood control corruption scandal.
