September budget deficit widens to P273.3B
The country’s budget deficit widened by 8.9 percent to P273.3 billion in September from P250.9 billion in the same month last year as state spending outpaced its revenues, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Thursday.
Revenue collections increased to P299.7 billion, up by 17.32 percent from P255.4 billion last year, while state expenditures also grew by 13.15 percent to P572.9 billion.
For the first nine months, the budget deficit narrowed by 1.35 percent to P970.2 billion from the P983.5 billion budget gap a year ago.
The total deficit as of September was 9.08 percent short of the P1.1 trillion program for the nine-month period and is at 65.36 percent of the P1.5 trillion revised full-year program.
A budget deficit happens when the state’s expenses exceed its revenue.
“With fiscal consolidation in place, it might be that revenue generation has been constrained. This can be due to unexpected spending such as on calamity response,” John Paolo Rivera, senior research fellow at Philippine Institute of Development Studies, told the Inquirer.
Rivera noted that while the situation might be temporary, he emphasized the importance of focusing on how revenue is generated efficiently.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P174.7 billion during the month, an improvement of 14.79 percent from last year’s P152.2 billion. This was driven by higher personal income tax , especially from withholding wages, because of salary adjustments for civilian government employees and increased collection of documentary stamp tax.
This brought its year-to-date collection to P2.09 trillion, a little below the target of P2.12 trillion for the period. This also translated to 73.52 percent of the P2.8 trillion revised target for the year.
Meanwhile, revenue collection from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) dropped by 3.31 percent to P76.3 billion due to a significant drop in import duties, partly because of lower tariffs on some goods and an increase in smuggling activities.
Year to date, BOC’s collections hit P690.7 billion, up by 4.59 percent from P660.4 billion a year ago. This is also about 0.46 percent short of the P693.9 billion goal for the nine-month period.
BOC’s collections stood at 73.50 percent of the P939.7 billion full-year target.
Collection by the treasury department also increased by 24.86 percent to P9.9 billion driven by higher national government share from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s income, interest income, and guarantee fee collection.
BTr’s income since the start of the year reached P210.2 billion, up by 33.02 percent and has surpassed the P187 billion revised full-year program.
Nontax revenues also surged to P46.2 billion in September, more than twice the level attained a year ago primarily due to the one-off windfall from the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) concession agreement.
Meanwhile, total interest payments for September reached P73.9 billion, increasing by 3.36 percent due to servicing of new external loans availed from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), as well as the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations.
With this, overall expenditures for the first nine months reached P4.3 trillion, accelerating by 11.56 percent. To date, the national government has already disbursed 74.09 percent of the P5.8 trillion revised full-year program for the year.
