Gov’t posts P19.1-B budget gap

The government’s budget position swung to a deficit of P19.1 billion in November as spending on public goods and services jumped by a third year-on-year, the latest Bureau of the Treasury data released yesterday showed.

The deficit posted last month reversed the P6-billion surplus in the same month last year.

In November, expenditures rose 33 percent to P228.4 billion from P171.4 billion a year ago.

The growth in disbursements outpaced the 18-percent increase in revenues to P209.2 billion from P177.5 billion in the same month last year.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue—the country’s biggest tax-collection agency—saw its take climb 15 percent year-on-year to P156.8 billion in November.

In a statement, the Treasury said the BIR also gained P500 million in tax refunds that month, bringing the total take to a higher P157.3 billion.

The Bureau of Customs, meanwhile, grew its collections of import duties and other taxes by a faster 38 percent year-on-year to P40.2 billion.

The Treasury, meanwhile, reversed two straight months of contraction in income, growing its non-tax revenues by 35 percent year-on-year to P4.2 billion “due to higher income from bond sinking fund/securities stabilization fund investments as well as remittance of national government’s share from Pagcor [state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.] and airport terminal fees,” it said.