MANILA -- The country's budget deficit in the first five months of the current year has more than doubled compared to the same period in 2017, the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) reported Monday.
BTr data showed that the national government’s fiscal performance for January to May this year recorded a deficit of PHP138.7 billion, an increase of 118 percent or PHP75.1-billion higher than the deficit of PHP63.6 billion in the same period last year.
The reason cited was that government expenditures grew faster than its revenues in the first five months of the year.
Government revenues in January to May 2018 rose 19 percent to PHP1.19 trillion from PHP996.5 billion in the same period in 2017.
About 90 percent of the national government’s revenues in the said period were from tax collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs (BOC), and other offices. Tax collections this year reached PHP1.07 trillion, increasing by 18 percent or PHP166.1 billion from last year’s tax revenues of PHP900.8 billion.
Tax revenues from BIR grew by 15 percent to PHP827.7 billion, while BOC’s collection jumped by 31 percent to PHP229.3 billion. Tax collections of other offices amounted to PHP9.8 billion this year, an 8-percent increase from 2017 revenues.
On the other hand, non-tax revenues also grew by 25 percent to PHP119.4 billion this year from PHP95.8 billion last year, with the BTr raising PHP58.4 billion for the national government, while other offices contributed PHP61.1 billion.
Meanwhile, expenditures accelerated by 25 percent to PHP1.32 trillion in the first five months of 2018 from PHP1.06 trillion in the same period in the previous year.
Government’s interest payments grew 7 percent to PHP141.4 billion on the back of the weaker local currency and stronger interest rates.
“Foreign interest payments of PHP2.5 billion generated the uptick, mainly due to peso depreciation and an increase in rates for outstanding floating rate loans,” the BTr said.
Other expenditures by the national government ballooned by 28 percent to PHP1.18 trillion this year from PHP927.8 billion in 2017. The BTr noted that this reflected the growth in productive government spending.
Earlier, the Department of Finance noted that the better tax revenues of the government is supported by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, which was implemented at the start of the year.
On a separate note, the government stressed that the higher budget deficit of the national government is mainly due to its robust spending pushed by the Build Build Build Program. (PNA)
