Gov’t confident of exceeding 2024 revenue goal; deficit within target

Bureau of the Treasury

MANILA, Philippines – The national government (NG) remains confident of surpassing the revenue goal of P4.27 trillion this year despite the lower collection in November 2024 against the 2023 level, while keeping the fiscal deficit within target.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported Thursday that the NG’s revenue collection last month slipped by 0.61 percent to P338.3 billion from P340.4 billion in November 2023, lower by P2.1 billion.

This was after non-tax revenues plunged by 70.7 percent year on year from P54.3 billion to P15.9 billion “as the previous year’s level included a P23.8 billion remittance of additional dividends from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP),” the BTr explained.

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On the other hand, tax revenues improved by 12.7 percent in November 2024 to P322.4 billion from P286.1 billion a year ago.

Collection by the Bureau of Internal Revenues (BIR) increased by 17.77 percent in the previous month to P247.6 billion from P210.2 billion in November 2023.

Revenues from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) slightly decreased by 1.69 percent to P72.4 billion last month, from P73.7 billion in the previous year.

From January to November, NG’s revenue collection increased to P4.1 trillion from P3.56 trillion in the same period last year, higher by P540.3 billion.

“The national government is on track to surpass its revenue goal in 2024, with collections growing by 15.2 percent to P4.1 trillion as of the end of November, representing 96.12 percent of the full-year program of P4.3 trillion,” the BTr said.

“The year-to-date budget deficit of PHP1.2 trillion also remains well within the target, representing 79.29 percent of the P1.5 trillion full-year program for the year.”

In terms of expenditures, NG spent 27.13 percent higher in November 2024 to P551.3 billion from P433.6 billion, with interest payments climbing 37.29 percent to P66.7 billion last month from P48.5 billion last year.

“The increase was primarily due to coupon payments on new domestic debt issuances and Global Bonds, as well as the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations,” the national treasury said.

Year-to-date expenditures increased by 12.96 percent to P5.28 trillion in the first 11 months of 2024 from P4.68 trillion in the same period of 2023.

Meanwhile, the primary deficit declined by 13.24 percent to P471.5 billion from January to November this year from P543.5 billion in the previous year.