7-month budget gap widens to P205B

The government posted a budget deficit of P50.5 billion in July but missed the wider target as the government did not spend as much as it had programmed while revenues surpassed the goal for the month.

Bureau of the Treasury data released yesterday showed that the budget balance at the start of the second half was nearly unchanged compared with the P50.7-billion deficit in the same month last year, but was only about a third of the P147.7-billion deficit program.

Last month, disbursements rose 11 percent to P245.1 billion from P220.9 billion a year ago. However, the amount spent by the government in July was below the P332.4-billion program.

As for revenues, tax and non-tax collections jumped 14 percent to P194.6 million last month from P170.3 billion last year.

The revenue take in July exceeded the P184.6-billion target for the month.

Tax revenues collected mainly by the bureaus of Customs (BOC) and of Internal Revenue (BIR) grew 16 percent year-on-year to P174.5 billion, while non-tax revenues declined by 1 percent to P20.1 billion.

The BIR’s collection increased 18 percent to P138.1 billion while the import duties and other taxes collected by the BOC climbed 13 percent to P35 billion.

At the end of the first seven months, the deficit settled at P205 billion, 20-percent wider than the P171-billion deficit during the same period last year. This was, however, short of the P291.5-billion target for the period.