Budget surplus narrowed to P23B in Jan

The national government’s budget surplus narrowed to P23 billion in January as spending on public goods and services climbed, thanks to the on-time approval of the budget.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data released on Friday showed that last January’s surplus was almost half of the P44.5 billion posted a year ago.

Last year, the surplus ballooned as expenditures declined when the government spent reenacted 2018 appropriations after Congress failed to approve the 2019 national budget, while revenues continued to rise due to the second round of excise hikes under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act.

In January, tax and nontax revenues rose 14.8 percent year-on-year to P294.6 billion.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) tax take increased 5.3 percent to P194.9 billion, but fell short of the P229.4-billion target for the month.

The BIR gave taxpayers in Batangas relief when Taal Volcano erupted in January.

The Bureau of Customs collected P55.9 billion in excise taxes and other duties, up 15.5 percent.

Nontax revenues jumped 89.5 percent year-on-year to P40.8 billion on the back of the 195.5-percent hike in the Treasury’s income, which it attributed to “the P17.3-billion dividend remittance from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and P1.4-billion increase in Bond Sinking Fund investment income.”

Disbursements climbed 27.9­ per­cent year-on-year to P271.6 billion as the Treasury pointed to “the timely release of the January 2020 internal revenue allotment (IRA) along with funds for the newly created Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, as well as payments for negotiated checks issued in the latter part of 2019.”

In 2019, local government units’ IRA for the month of January were released in February no thanks to delayed budget approval, the Treasury noted.

Net of interest payments, primary expenditures reached P210.2 billion, up 26.4 percent year-on-year.

Interest payments grew by a faster 33.8 percent to P61.4 billion “due to coupon payments for treasury bonds, discount on treasury bills, and the timing of payments for global bonds,” the Treasury said.

For global bonds, “[interest] payments due in February were made in January this year as the original schedule fell on a weekend (Feb. 1),” the Treasury said

So far, every month of January under the Duterte admi­nistration—from 2017 to 2020—recorded a budget surplus.

From P2.2 billion in 2017, the January surplus widened to P10.2 billion in 2018 during the first year of implementation of new or higher taxes slapped on consumption under the TRAIN Law.

For 2020, the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee had programmed to end the year with a budget deficit of P671.2 billion, equivalent to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), as the government wanted to spend more, especially on infrastructure.

However, economic managers had said this year’s budget deficit might hit up to 3.6 percent of GDP due to the projected foregone revenue of P91 billion as the COVID-19 pandemic slowed tourism receipts and trade.

The government targets to collect P3.5 trillion in revenue this year while programmed spending is P4.2 billion.