First quarter budget gap seen below ceiling

MANILA, Philippines - The rosy collection figures of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in the first quarter of the year likely led to a budget shortfall that is below the P110.9-billion deficit ceiling for the first three months of the year, a ranking Finance official said yesterday.

“We’re hopeful that we’ve been able to reduce the deficit below P110.9 billion. It’s either we hit it right in the head or a little better. (It) could be around P1 billion better,” Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran told reporters yesterday.

As such, the budget gap in the first three months of the year could hover around P109.9 billion, Beltran said, citing preliminary data.

This as the BIR and the BOC both surpassed their targets for the first quarter of the year, a development that could make up for the snags the government continues to face over the delay in the privatization of state-owned assets.

According to preliminary data, the BIR and the BOC registered combined collections of P229.429 billion or P16.629 billion more than their revenue goal for the first three months of the year.

Of the amount, the BIR was able to collect a total of P170.4 billion in the first three months of the year, while the BOC’s tax take amounted to P59.029 billion.

Both exceeded their first quarter targets which amounted to P157.7 billion for the BIR and P55.1 billion for the BOC or a combined revenue goal of P212.8 billion for the period.

Originally, the government has programmed to raise P14 billion from the privatization of state-owned assets in the first quarter, out of the programmed P30-billion proceeds being eyed from the sale of three big-ticket items this year - the assets of and government shares in PNOC-Exploration Corp.; the 103-hectare agro-industrial Food Terminals Inc. property in Taguig City, and the upscale real estate property in Fujimi, Japan.

The government, however, was unable to sell any of the assets in the first quarter due to a host of reasons including poor market conditions and administrative setbacks, prompting it to move the privatization schedule to the second quarter of the year.

In the first two months of the year, the government incurred a budget deficit of P70.3 billion from the P67 billion recorded a year ago.

The government hopes to contain the budget deficit to P293 billion this year or 3.5 percent of gross domestic product.