PH budget deficit narrows as revenues outpace expenses

The Philippine national government’s budget deficit in September slightly narrowed, by 0.6 percent compared to the same month of 2021, to P179.8 billion from P180.9 billion as growth in revenues outpaced that of expenses.

The Bureau of the Treasury said this brought the January-September deficit to P1 trillion, shrinking by 11 percent from P1.14 trillion in the comparative nine months last year.

Revenues surged by 25 percent to P288.8 billion in September while nine-month receipts revved up by 19 percent to P2.7 trillion.

At the same time, September expenses rose by 14 percent to P468.6 billion while nine-month bills grew by 9 percent to P3.7 trillion.

The government wants its spending beyond its means to P1.3 trillion for the full-year 2022 in order to bring down the debt-to-GDP ratio below the 60 percent threshold for what is globally considered as “prudent.”

The country’s debts represented 63.5 percent of the domestic economy at the end of March. This has improved to 62.1 percent at the end of June.