The path the budget deficit has taken in 2022 has encouraged the economic managers, particularly Budget chief Amenah F. Paangandaman, who noted that as percent of local output, or the gross domestic product (GDP), has took a turn for better.
Pangandaman welcomed the latest development on the national government’s (NG) budget deficit data as this bodes well with the Marcos Jr. administration’s fiscal performance targets.
The budget deficit fell in 2022 to only P1.6 trillion, down by 3.35 percent or P56 billion from the P1.7 trillion shortfall posted in 2021.
This meant the national government’s budget deficit last year narrowed to 7.33 percent of GDP from 8.6 percent in 2021 and below the 7.58 percent full-year program.
“The decline in our budget deficit augurs well with our fiscal performance targets. We laud our revenue agencies for this notable improvement as this is a better outturn compared to the year prior, considering the past two years of pandemic spending,” Pangandaman said.
“Under our Medium-Term Fiscal Framework or the MTFF, we are targeting to further narrow the government’s budget deficit to GDP ratio at 3 percent by the end of President Marcos’ [Jr.] term in 2028.”
The Bureau of Treasury (BTr) attributed the fiscal outturn to revenue growth of 17.97 percent which outpaced the 10.35 percent expansion in government spending.
Data from the BTr showed the full-year revenue collection amounted to P3.5 trillion. This translated to a 17.97 percent or P540 billion improvement from the 2021 outcome.
Government spending in 2022 totaled P5.2 trillion, up by 10.35 percent from P4.7 trillion a year earlier.
