5-month budget surplus hits P86.4B

THE BUDGET surplus further widened last May to P67.3 billion as remittances from the coco levy fund helped grow revenues by double-digit, outpacing the increase in government spending.

The surplus posted in May grew by 472 percent from P11.8 billion during the same month last year and was higher than April’s P52.6 billion, the latest cash operations report released Monday by the Department of Finance (DOF) showed.

Even as the take of the two biggest tax-collection agencies, the bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR) and of Customs (BOC) were flat and down 7 percent, respectively, total tax and non-tax revenues last May increased by 41 percent year-on-year to P242.5 billion.

In a statement, the DOF explained that the revenues contributed by other offices in May were boosted by the P60.1-billion coco levy-related remittance to the special account in the general fund. “The funds were proceeds from the sale of San Miguel Corp. Series 1 preferred shares, including interest income, as these were transferred to the [Bureau of the Treasury] in 2012 and held in escrow,” the DOF said. In all, revenues generated from other offices that month jumped 592 percent year-on-year to P76.4 billion.

The Treasury’s income also rose 167 percent last May to P11 billion from a year ago.

From January to May, the combined revenues of the BIR, BOC, Treasury and other offices amounted to P922.2 billion, up 16 percent from P795.1 billion a year ago.

The government’s expenditures as of May, while also recording growth, rose slower than revenue generation. During the month of May alone, disbursements went up 9 percent to P175.2 billion. For the January to May period, total expenditures grew by only 6 percent to P835.7 billion from P786.6 billion in the first five months of 2014.

As a result of robust revenue growth exceeding government spending, the end-May surplus increased by 915 percent to P86.4 billion from just P8.5 billion last year.

Under the Cabinet-level, interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee’s (DBCC) fiscal program for 2015, first-half disbursements must hit P1.25 trillion, which meant that the government should have spent P415.9 billion last June to hit the target deficit of P50.8 billion during the second quarter.

The government is aiming for a P283.7-billion deficit by yearend as the amount of investments in public goods and services, especially vital infrastructure, must outpace strong revenue collection in order to support economic growth.