Government posts P26.258-B surplus in April

MANILA, Philippines - The National Government (NG) posted a surplus of P26.258 billion in April, the highest monthly surplus recorded in recent years, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said yesterday.

 This as expenditures fell below last year’s disbursement despite improvement in revenues.

The April surplus reflected a 910.31-percent increase over the P2.599-billion surplus posted in the same month last year.

Furthermore, the April surplus brought the four-month fiscal surplus to P61 million, reversing the P131.80-billion deficit incurred in the same period last year, Purisima also said.

This as revenues from January to April rose to P461.413 billion or 18.22 percent higher than the P390.292 billion generated in the same period last year.

Of the amount, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the government’s main revenue earner generated P302.942 billion during the period, or 14.29 percent higher than the P265.054 billion recorded in January to April last year. The Bureau of Customs (BOC), meanwhile, raised P85.058 billion during the four-month period or a growth of 2.04 percent.

The Bureau of the Treasury’s income amounted to P44.505 billion while collections from other offices hit P28.908 billion.

Expenditures, on the other hand, amounted to P461.352 billion or 11.6 percent lower than the comparable disbursements in 2010.

In April alone, revenue collections reached P138.335 billion or 11.14 percent higher compared to the same period last year of P124.468 billion.

The BIR collected P103.393 billion during the tax-filing month, 13.42 percent higher than the P91.162 billion recorded in the same period last year.

On the other hand, the BOC collected P22.440 billion, down from the P22.773 billion recorded in the same month last year.

However, Purisima said compared to the monthly targets, the two agencies’ tax-take in April fell below the goals.

“However, compared to the month’s target of P105.12 billion, BIR’s total take is short by P1.73 billion. The shortfall in April, BIR Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares said, can be attributed to the “lower than expected tax collections resulting from market transactions of Treasury bills and bonds.” 

For the BOC, Purisima said April collections fell below target because of lower import volume during the period.

“Compared to program, Customs actual April take is short by P2.75 billion as both cash and non-cash collections were below target by P2.35 billion and P0.4 billion, respectively,” Purisima said.

Purisima nonetheless said that the government’s latest fiscal position shows that the situation is improving.

“With fiscal discipline and strong commitment to improving revenue collections, things are definitely improving. We are focused on building on these gains to ensure a smooth path to fiscal consolidation,” Purisima said.

In April alone, state spending declined by 8.03 percent to P112.077 billion from P121.869 billion year-on-year, the DOF also showed.

The government hopes to contain the budget gap at roughly P300 billion this year or 3.2 percent of GDP.