BTr: Govt posts P87-B budget surplus in April
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Fri, 24 May 2019 16:58:10 +0000
THE government incurred a budget surplus of P86.9 billion in April as state spending contracted amid a marginal growth in revenues, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said on Friday, attributing the latest data to the delayed 2019 outlay.
Last month’s amount was a reversal of the P58.409-billion deficit posted in March, and was also higher than the P46.315-billion surplus recorded a year earlier.
Government revenues rose by 0.4 percent to P308.7 billion in April from P307.6 billion last year, while expenditures plunged by 15.1 percent to P221.8 billion from P261.2 billion. A month earlier, revenues rose by 13 percent, while expenditures fell by 8 percent.
The latest surplus trimmed the year-to-date shortfall to P3.4 billion, 96.8 percent lower than the P105.9 billion posted in the comparable 2018 period.
Revenues
For April alone, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) accounted for the bulk of revenues with P235.5 billion, 1.2 percent higher than the year-earlier P232.6 billion. The growth was slower compared to March’s 13 percent.
The Bureau of Customs (BoC) netted P51.7 billion — a 10.4-percent gain from last year’s P46.8 billion — while other offices contributed P1.8 billion, bringing total tax revenues for the month to P288.9 billion.
“The agency’s strong performance for the period was attributed to its stringent monitoring and continuing efforts to enhance revenue-collection capabilities and intensified control measures against undervaluation, misdeclaration and other forms of technical smuggling,” the Treasury said.
Tax-revenue growth was slower at 2.8 percent from 12 percent a month earlier.
Non-tax earnings, meanwhile, reached P19.8 billion, with the Treasury contributing P10.5 billion — down 26.5 percent — “resulting mainly from lower collections of dividends on shares of stocks held by the government,” it said.
Spending
The bulk of government spending — P198.3 billion — was for primary expenditures, which fell by 16.7 percent from P238.1 billion a year ago.
The Treasury bureau said “part of the slower spending was still due to the four-month delay in the passage of the 2019 national budget, which constrained the government in implementing new programs and projects.”
A dispute between the Senate and the House of Representatives over alleged insertions resulted in the delay of the budget’s passage. This forced the government to run on last year’s budget, limiting it to spend for items detailed in the 2018 outlay and not on programs and projects supposed to be implemented this year.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed the 2019 budget on April 15.
Interest payments of P23.5 billion, meanwhile, accounted for the rest of state spending. It rose by 1.6 percent year-on-year, the BTr said, “due to coupon payment for T-bonds issued last year.”
Netting out interest payments, the government recorded a P110.4-billion primary surplus in April, wider than last year’s P69.5-billion surplus.
Highest since 1994
In a comment, ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said the April budget surplus was the highest of its kind recorded since 1994.
“In a year that the government targeted a substantial 3.2 percent deficit-to-GDP (gross domestic product) target, spending has taken a backseat in a big way and was a key reason for the first-quarter snafu,” he added.
Philippine economic growth slowed to 5.6 percent for January to March, mainly blamed on reduced government spending because of the delay in the approval of this year’s budget.
“With government set to pick up where they left off and the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) priming rates for growth mode, the one-off blip of the April budget surplus will likely revert to deficits as the administration pushes on with its build build build agenda,” Mapa said.
YTD tally
Reckoned from the start of 2019, revenues were up 7.4 percent year-on-year to P996.4 billion as of end-April.
The BIR’s four-month tally of P703.7 billion was 7.3 percent higher than the year-ago figure, while the BoC’s year-to-date take of P193.5 billion was a 9.6-percent increase from last year’s amount.
Primary expenditures dropped 4.9 percent to P868.5 billion during the period, while interest payments grew by 9.1 percent to P131.3 billion.
Year to date, the primary balance hit a surplus of P127.9 billion, wider than last year’s P14.5 billion.
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