September budget deficit widens to P273.3B

The country’s budget deficit widened by 8.9 percent to P273.3 billion in September from P250.9 billion in the same month last year, as the increase in revenues was not enough to cover the hike in expenses, the Bureau of the Treasury reported on Thursday.

Revenue collections increased by 17.32 percent to P299.7 billion last month, from P255.4 billion last year, while state expenditures also grew by 13.15 percent to P572.9 billion.

But for the first nine months, the budget deficit narrowed by 1.35 percent to P970.2 billion from the P983.5-billion budget gap a year ago.

READ: Gov’t budget deficit narrowed by 59.2% in August

The total deficit as of September was 9.08 percent short of the P1.1 trillion program for the nine-month period and is at 65.36 percent of the revised full-year program of P1.5 trillion.

A budget deficit happens when the state’s expenses exceed revenues.

“With fiscal consolidation in place, it might be that revenue generation has been constrained. This can be due to unexpected spending such as on calamity response,” John Paolo Rivera, senior research fellow at Philippine Institute of Development Studies, told the Inquirer.

Collections

The Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P174.7 billion during the month, an improvement of 14.79 percent from last year’s P152.2 billion. This was driven by higher personal income tax, especially from withholding wages, because of salary adjustments for civilian government employees and increased collection of documentary stamp tax.

This brought its collection as of September to P2.09 trillion, a little below the target of P2.12 trillion for the period. This also translated to 73.52 percent of the P2.8-trillion revised target for the year.

Meanwhile, revenue collection from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) dropped by 3.31 percent to P76.3 billion in September due to a significant drop in import duties, partly because of lower tariffs on some goods and an increase in smuggling activities.

Year to date, BOC’s collections hit P690.7 billion, up by 4.59 percent from P660.4 billion a year ago. This is also about 0.46 percent short of the P693.9-billion goal for the nine-month period.

BOC’s collections stood at 73.50 percent of the P939.7-billion full-year target.

Collection by the treasury department also increased by 24.86 percent to P9.9 billion driven by higher national government share from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s income, interest income and guarantee fee collection. —Mariedel Irish U. Catilogo