Gov’t registered P72.2B deficit in June

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The country posted a budget deficit of P72.7 billion in June as the government moved to fast-track spending particularly on infrastructure.

This narrowed the budget surplus to P13.7 billion as of end-June from P86.4 billion as of May.

The latest cash operations report released by the Department of Finance on Thursday showed that expenditures in June jumped 17 percent to P236.2 billion from P201.1 billion a year ago.

In a separate statement, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr)  said disbursements that month exceeded  by 24 percent the programmed spending for the period of P190.8 billion.

Expenditures exceeded revenues, which rose by 18 percent to P163.6 billion from P138.6 billion in June last year.

Revenue collected that month was 1-percent higher than the program of P161.5 billion, BTr data showed.

The government thus posted a deficit that was 149 percent bigger than the P29.2-billion goal for the month of June.

The June deficit was also bigger than the P62.5 billion recorded in the same month last year, and a reversal of the P67.3-billion surplus posted in May.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad told reporters that the uptick in spending at the end of the first half was a result of the rollout of delayed projects following President Aquino’s directive to fast-track disbursements. The said order was contained in Administrative Order No. 46 issued early this year.

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said the ramped up expenditures that month “(reflected) the government’s continued commitment to accelerate the use of our ample fiscal space for critical investments in our economy and people.”

Higher spending in June narrowed the first-half budget surplus from P86.4 billion as of the end of May. In the first half of 2014, the government registered a deficit of P54 billion.

Total revenue as of the end of June remained robust, exceeding the P1-billion mark. Revenue collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, the BTr and other agencies in the first six months grew by 16 percent to P1.086 billion from P933.7 million a year ago.

First-half expenditures, on the other hand, expanded at a slower pace of 9 percent to P1.072 billion from P987.7 million last year.

Still, the government failed to hit any of the end-June targets set earlier by the Cabinet-level, interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee.

Actual first-half revenue was  1 percent below the P1.097-billion goal; expenditures as of end-June were 14-percent lower than the program of P1.252 billion.