10-month budget gap narrows to P33.6B

The growth in revenue collection again outpaced government spending, narrowing the deficit in October to P2.5 billion or 71.4 percent below the pro-gram for the month.

The lower deficit at the beginning of the fourth quarter brought the 10-month shortfall to P33.6 billion, way below the P244 billion programmed from January to October.

In a statement Monday, the Department of Finance reported that the deficit during the month of October was also lower by 77 percent compared with the same month last year “as expenditures continued to grow at a slower pace than revenues.”

Total revenues generated by the bureaus of Customs, Internal Revenue, and the Treasury reached P152.3 billion last October, up 13 year-on-year. Collections in the 10 months to October totaled P1.6 trillion, 13-percent more than the haul during the same period last year.

The tax collections of the BIR rose 7 percent to P101.8 billion in October, bringing the end-October take to P1.1 trillion, 11-percent higher year-on-year.

The BOC’s collections posted a faster 23-percent jump to P34.2 billion last October. During the first 10 months, revenues from duties and taxes went up 19 percent year-on-year to P299.9 billion.

The Treasury, meanwhile, saw its revenues zoom up by 62 percent to P5.8 billion in October on the back of higher interest income earned on national government deposits with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Treasury revenues increased by more than a fifth at end-October to P87.1 billion, exceeding the P56.2-billion goal for 2014.

As for government spending in October, government disbursements reached P154.8 billion, 6-percent more year-on-year. At end-October, expenditures hit P1.6 trillion, also up 6 percent year-on-year.

The total government spending during the January to October period was lower by P303 billion than the P1.9 trillion programmed for the 10-month period.

Interest payments last October went down 18 percent year-on-year to P16.8 billion mainly on the back of a reduction in domestic payments, the DOF said. Total interest payments for the 10-month period hit P274.2 billion, slightly lower than last year’s.

It should be noted that the slower government spending—attributed mainly to the “chilling effects” of the Supreme Court ruling that the Disbursement Acceleration Program was unconstitutional—was a culprit in the disappointing 5.3-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth posted during the third quarter.

The Department of Budget and Management said last week that spending would be ramped up in the fourth quarter. The government aims to spend a total of P2.28 billion by yearend.