Jan.-Sept. budget deficit narrows by 1.35%

The national government's budget deficit narrowed from January to September this year, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed. In its latest cash operations report released on Thursday, the BTr said the budget deficit during the period went down by 1.35 percent to PHP970.2 billion from the PHP983.5 billion logged in January to September last year. The government incurs a budget deficit when spending exceeds its revenues. "The total deficit for the first three quarters was 9.08 percent short of the PHP1.1 trillion program for the nine-month period and is at 65.36 percent of the PHP1.5 trillion revised full-year program," the BTr said. Revenue collection went up to PHP3.3 trillion, 16.04 percent higher than the PHP2.8 trillion collection in 2023. The revenue collection during the period was also PHP142.8 billion ahead of the January to September program. Of the total collection, taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs (BOC), and other offices accounted for ab out 85.39 percent or PHP2.8 trillion, up by 10.62 percent year on year. The remaining 14.61 percent or PHP481.1 billion, were non-tax revenues, which grew by 62.54 percent. Spending, meanwhile, reached PHP4.3 trillion, higher by 11.56 percent, leading to a PHP46 billion overperformance compared with the nine-month program of PHP4.2 trillion. Sept. budget deficit For September alone, the budget deficit rose 8.9 percent to PHP273.3 billion from PHP250.9 billion last year. Revenue collection for September climbed to PHP299.7 billion, outperforming the previous year's outturn by 17.32 percent. BIR collections for September improved to PHP174.7 billion, 14.79 percent higher than last year. "This is attributed to higher personal income tax (PIT), particularly on withholding on wages due to the release of salary differentials of civilian government personnel pursuant to Executive Order No. 64, series of 20242, which updated from the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) of 2019," the BTr said. This is followed by higher collections from documentary stamp tax. Collections by the BOC, however, slid by 3.31 percent to PHP76.3 billion in September due to double-digit negative growth in import duties, partly due to tariff reduction of some commodities. "Also, the decline is due to an alarming increase in smuggling activities within the year, as the current amount of the BOC's seized goods has already surpassed their total haul in 2023," the bureau said. Total expenditures for September, on the other hand, grew by 13.15 percent to PHP572.9 billion from PHP506.3 billion a year ago. The BTr said the increase was due to non-interest expenses, particularly due to the implementation of capital outlay projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, larger personnel services expenditures due to the implementation of the first tranche of salary adjustments of qualified civilian government employees, as well as the payments for health emergency allowance claims of health care workers. Source: Philippines News agency