Govt budget surplus reaches P2.6B in May
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2019 16:30:48 +0000
THE government continued to post a budget surplus in May as revenue collections outpaced state spending for the second straight month, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Treasury said last month’s P2.6-billion surplus was narrower than April’s P86.9 billion, noting that the latest amount reversed “the P32.9-billion deficit registered in the same month last year, fueled by strong revenue collections outpacing the year-on-year increase in government spending.”
Government revenues rose by 22.5 percent to P317.2 billion in May from P259 billion last year, while expenditures increased by 7.8 percent to P314.7 billion from P291.9 billion. A month earlier, revenues grew by 0.4 percent and expenditures fell by 15.1 percent.
The latest surplus trimmed the year-to-date shortfall to P800 million, 99.4 percent lower than the P138.7 billion in January to May 2018.
For May alone, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) accounted for the bulk of revenues with P204.8 billion, a 19.1-percent improvement from the year-earlier P172 billion. The growth was faster than April’s 1.2 percent.
The Bureau of Customs (BoC) netted P58.2 billion — a 10.3-percent gain from last year’s P52.7 billion — while other offices contributed P2.4 billion, bringing total tax revenues for the month to P265.4 billion.
Tax-revenue growth was faster at 17 percent from 2.8 percent a month earlier.
Non-tax earnings, meanwhile, reached P51.8 billion, with the Treasury contributing P35.7 billion — up 66.8 percent — propelled by “higher dividends on shares of stocks, growing by 89.5 percent from May 2018 collections amounting to P30.8 billion, wherein Pagcor (Philippine
Amusement and Gaming Corp.) contributed P16.2 billion for the month,” the bureau said.
The bulk of government spending — P295 billion — was for primary expenditures, which rose by 9 percent from P270.8 billion a year ago.
“Expansion for the period was attributed to the implementation of the last tranche of salary increase of government personnel, release of mid-year bonus, and the execution of new programs in line with the approval of the 2019 GAA (General Approriations Act) in mid-April,” the
Treasury said.
Interest payments of P19.7 billion, meanwhile, accounted for the rest of state spending. It dropped by 6.8 percent year-on-year, which the bureau said was “due to [the] coupon payment for T-bonds issued last year.”
Netting out interest payments, the government recorded a P22.2-billion primary surplus in May, a reversal of last year’s P11.8-billion deficit.
Meanwhile, revenues in the first five months of 2019 jumped by 10.7 percent year-on-year to P1.313 trillion.
The BIR’s five-month tally of P908.5 billion was 9.8 percent higher than the year-ago figure, while the BoC’s year-to-date take of P251.7 billion was a 9.8-percent increase from last year’s amount.
Primary expenditures dropped 1.7 percent to P1.163 trillion during the period, while interest payments grew by 6.7 percent to P151 billion.
Year to date, the primary balance hit a surplus of P150.2 billion, much wider than last year’s P2.7 billion.
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