Budget gap eases below target in 5 months

MANILA, Philippines — The national government incurred a fiscal deficit of P138.7 billion in the first five months, 32 percent lower than the programmed shortfall of P205 billion, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported yesterday.

Based on the BTr’s cash operations report, the government’s fiscal deficit as of end-May went below program due to higher-than-target revenue collections, which outpaced the increase in public spending.

However, the latest fiscal deficit figure was sharply higher than the P63.6 billion deficit recorded in the same period last year.

The BTr said government revenue as of end-May exceeded the target by seven percent, outpacing disbursements, which only surpassed the target by one percent.

“The collections are good. Revenues for the past five months are P81.5 billion higher than program. So to clarify, it’s not underspending but it was really due to higher revenue collections than the target. But expenditures are also higher than program by P15.2 billion,” National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon said.

For May alone, the fiscal deficit narrowed slightly to P32.9 billion from the P33.4 billion incurred in the same month in 2017.

A deficit occurs when government’s expenditures exceed the revenue it generates.

According to Treasury data, government revenue in the first five months rose by 19 percent to P1.19 trillion from P996.5 billion in the same period last year.

This was seven percent higher than the programmed revenue for the period.

Of the total revenues, P827.7 billion was contributed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), up 15 percent from last year’s P716.8 billion.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) raised P229.3 billion during the period, 31 percent higher than the previous year’s P174.9 billion.

Non-tax revenue increased 25 percent year-on-year to P119.4 billion.

Revenues in May amounted to P259 billion, up 13 percent from the P228.3 billion posted in the same period in 2017.

Meanwhile, expenditures during the five-month period grew 25 percent to P1.33 trillion from P1.06 trillion in the same period last year.

The BTr said this was one percent or P15.2 billion higher than the spending program of P1.31 billion for the period.