The budget deficit widened in September this year to P179.5 billion, just a shade under 60 percent from last year’s P119.9 billion and the result of far more expenses this year than there were receipts generated, the Bureau of the Treasury said.
This brought the year-to-date budget shortfall to P523.4 billion, narrower by P89.5 billion or 15 percent lower than last year’s P612.8 billion.
According to the BTr, nine-month expenses add up 4.1 percent higher this time around to P3.821 trillion versus last year’s P3.670 trillion or P151.1 billion more.
In September this year alone, public sector spending accelerated by 8 percent to P506.3 billion or P11.6 billion more than last year’s P468.6 billion. Revenue generation for the month totaled only P255.4 billion, nearly 12 percent lower than last year’s revenue haul of P288.8 billion.
As a result, nine month revenue this year accelerated by 6.8 percent to P2.837 trillion from last year’s P2.657 trillion.
The government’s tax revenue sources did quite well in the first nine months by growing 6.38 percent to P2.541 trillion from only P2.389 trillion last year led by the Bureau of Internal Revenue whose collections grew 7.25 percent his year from last year’s 12.4 percent contraction.
The government’s non-tax revenue, also grew 10.5 percent over nine months this year to P296.5 billion from only P268.4 billion.
It must also be said that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) similarly did well over nine months as it posted collection totaling 3.4 percent higher to P660.4 billion from last year’s P638.5 billion or an over performance by P21.9 billion.
The BTr said the nine-month budget deficit equal only 66 percent of the programed full-year deficit of P1.106 trillion and the result of lower-than-programed spending and higher-than-projected revenue collection.
