Gov’t posts budget surplus in February

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The national government posted a budget surplus of P10.66 billion in February as the surge in revenues outpaced the growth in expenditures, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.

This brought the budget deficit for January-February to P5.29 billion, which was just 2 percent of the P279 billion that the government intends to spend on top of this year’s national budget.

The two-month deficit was about a third less than the P8.1 billion recorded in the same period of 2011.

January-February expenses reached P250.83 bllion, or 12-percent more than the P244 billion spent in the same period last year. On the other hand, two-month revenues reached P245.54 billion, or 13.7-percent higher than last year’s P215.93 billion.

In February alone, expenditures amounted to P108.53 billion, 6.9-percent higher than the P101.52 billion spent last year. February revenues reached P119.9 billion, an increase of 49 percent from P80 billion a year ago.

The February fiscal performance continued to affirm the government’s strategy on raising more revenues and being prudent on its spending, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said in a statement.

Purisima said that, netting out the interest payments in the expenditures, the national government recorded a primary surplus of P31.2 billion in February and P65.6 billion for the January-February period.

“These developments only strengthen our resolve to further improve tax administration and to pass into law the reforms in the excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol and in the fiscal incentives regime,” he said.

He also said tax administration efforts continued to boost revenue collections as agencies achieved significant growth rates in February.

From January to February, the Bureau of Internal Revenue contributed revenues of P153.84 billion, up 20.2 percent from year-ago collections of P127.99 billion.

The Bureau of Customs chipped in P44.42 billion, up 13.6-percent from P39.12 billion last year. The Bureau of the Treasury also turned in P31.19 billion, which was 7.2-percent less than the P33.6 billion earned previously. Other government offices yielded P16.1 billion, rising by 5.7 percent year-on-year from P15.26 billion.