Manila, Philippines - The government likely recorded a budget surplus in April even while state spending accelerated, Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday.
He said that the April fiscal position is “likely a surplus because of the improvement in revenues.”
The Department of Finance is set to release on Monday the April fiscal data.
Abad said that while the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) missed its collection goal in April, the revenues improved compared to collections in the same month last year.
The BIR, which accounts for 70 percent of total government agencies, collected P116.22 billion in April, below the target for the month of P122.8 billion.
The April collections are higher by P12.83 billion or 12.41 percent over the collection made in April 2011, latest data from the BIR showed.
Abad said that in the area of state spending, disbursements have significantly improved in April.
“We are accelerating spending on infrastructure as well as the social programs,” Abad said.
To further boost spending, Abad said the government is also looking at utilizing unused funds of government agencies for other projects that are in need of funding.
The last time the government incurred a budget surplus was in February, hitting P10.66 billion.
In the first quarter of the year, the government incurred a budget deficit of P33.909 billion, way below the programmed ceiling of P82.808 billion for the period but wider than the budget gap incurred in the comparable period in 2011.
In the first quarter of 2011, the government incurred a deficit of P26.197 billion.
In March alone, the government’s budget deficit stood at P28.621 billion, also wider than the P18.131-billion budget gap incurred in the same month in 2011.
The first quarter fiscal data showed that while spending has improved, the government has yet to meet its expenditures program for the quarter.
Actual disbursements for the first quarter of 2012, amounted to P394.883 billion, 13.1 percent higher than the comparable disbursements in 2011 but still below the programmed expenditures for the period of P440.588 billion.
The government hopes to contain this year’s budget deficit at roughly P280 billion from the actual P197 billion incurred last year.