End-Nov budget deficit widened to P1.33T

The national government’s end-November budget deficit widened by almost a fourth year-on-year to P1.33 trillion, nearly matching the full-year fiscal gap in 2020.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data on Friday showed that the 11-month deficit rose 24.6 percent from P1.07 trillion a year ago.

The national government ended 2020 with a P1.37-trillion budget deficit, the widest-ever and equivalent to 7.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), due to bigger spending for COVID-19 response but smaller revenue take due to the pandemic-induced recession.

The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) last week said the end-2021 deficit would likely be a lower P1.61 trillion or 8.2 percent of GDP, compared to the programmed P1.86 trillion or 9.5 percent of GDP.

The narrower—but still poised to be a new record-high —2021 budget deficit came on the back of faster-than-expected recovery in tax and nontax revenues yet government agencies’ persistent underspending.

The 11.4-percent year-on-year increase in end-November expenditures to P4.11 trillion outpaced the 5.9-percent rise in revenue collections to P2.77 trillion.

Productive spending net of interest payments increased 11.2 percent year-on-year to P3.7 trillion.

In a report on Thursday, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it expects expenditures growth to “continue for the rest of the year as line agencies have until Dec. 31, 2021, to obligate available funds and could strongly propel spending as they try to complete the implementation of programs and projects and pay outstanding due and demandable obligations before the end of the year.”

“This should also support the strong growth momentum coming into the fourth quarter as the prospect for economic recovery remains sanguine,” the DBM said. The economic team had said 7 to 8 percent year-on-year growth during the current fourth quarter was “doable” to achieve 5 to 5.5 full-year GDP expansion, although the onslaught of Typhoon “Odette” in parts of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao could ease the momentum.