Budget gap hits P26B in July on spending boost

Government expenses in July went over the budget by P26.48 billion, or just 81 percent of the P32.69-billion deficit posted in the same month last year.

This brought the budget deficit for the seven months to July to P43.71 billion, or about a fifth of the P229.42 billion recorded in the same period of 2010.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said Thursday that the amount spent in July was the highest monthly government spending level so far this year.

“Our interventions to speed up spending and implementation of programs and projects are now taking effect,” Abad said. “We’re seeing that departments and agencies will catch up significantly with their targets in the last five months of the year.”

With more than half of the year already over, the budget deficit was barely 15 percent of the P300 billion that the Aquino administration wanted to spend on top of the national budget this year.

“We are still pushing hard so our deficit spending level will be as close to the deficit target [which] is particularly necessary in light of the instability and slowdown in the global economy,” Abad said.

“We must fast-track the implementation of critical programs and projects in the remaining five months,” the budget chief said. “If necessary, we will augment funding for fast-moving projects that generate high economic multipliers.”

January-July expenses reached P832.3 billion, or 10-percent less than the P924.4 billion incurred in the same period of 2010.

Seven-month revenues reached P788.6 billion, or 13.5-percent higher than last year’s P695 billion.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue contributed P531.8 billion, up 13.8 percent from year-ago collections of P467.3 billion.

The Bureau of Customs chipped in P149.8 billion, down 2 percent year on year from P153 billion.

On the other hand, the Bureau of the Treasury turned in P53 billion, which was 64.3 percent more than the P34.7 billion earned a year ago.

Other government offices yielded P49.9 billion, rising 24.7 percent year on year from P40 billion.

For the month of July, expenditures reached P133.4 billion, lower by 1.6 percent than the P135.6 billion spent in the same month of 2010.

Total revenues reached P107 billion, an increase of 3.9 percent from P102.9 billion.

Of the month’s total, the BIR chipped in P73.8 billion, which was 15.6 percent higher than the year-ago P63.8 billion.

Customs contributed P21.3 billion, a decrease of 4.3 percent from P22.2 billion.

The Treasury turned in about P6.3 billion, or a year-on-year decline of a third from P9.6 billion, while other offices yielded P5.6 billion, or a decrease of more than a fifth from P7.2 billion in July 2010.