Budget gap widened to P75B in 9 mos

The budget deficit in September more than tripled year-on-year to P75.3 billion, as expenditure on public goods and services jumped by almost a third that month mainly due to the government’s payments to the builder of a controversial airport project.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data released Tuesday showed that the country posted a deficit of P75.3 billion in September, 240 percent higher than the P22.1-billion deficit recorded a year ago.

A budget deficit meant the government spent more than the amount of tax and non-tax revenues it collected.

The September deficit was a reversal of the P32.6- billion surplus last August.

Treasury data showed that disbursements in September rose 30 percent to P241.3 billion from P186.3 billion last year. The jump in public spending that month was the highest year-on-year growth registered so far this year, the Treasury said.
“The huge increase for the month is mainly due to the P20.475-billion payment to Piatco by the Department of Transportation,” it explained.
Last year, the Supreme Court ordered the government to pay Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) $510 million in compensation for building the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.

However, the Aquino administration ignored the ruling.

In the meantime, revenue increased by a mere 1 percent to P166 billion in September from P164.1 billion in the same month last year.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the country’s biggest tax-collection agency, saw its take grow by only 1 percent year-on-year to P113 billion. The Bureau of Customs (BOC), meanwhile, posted a slightly faster 2-percent year-on-year increase in its collections of import duties and other taxes to P33.3 billion.

At the end of the first nine months, the government widened its year-to-date budget deficit to P213.7 billion from P138.4 billion as of end-August.

Year-on-year, the deficit was 736-percent bigger than the P230.2 billion posted as of end-September last year.

Treasury data showed that from January to September, expenditure rose 14 percent year-on-year to $1.86 trillion, outpacing the 3-percent growth in revenue to P1.65 trillion.

The BIR’s end-September collection grew 9 percent to P1.17 trillion, while that of the BOC increased 7 percent to P287.9 billion.