Budget deficit widens to P179B in Sept
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2019 16:32:12 +0000
THE government’s budget deficit ballooned last month as state spending hit its highest level this year, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) announced on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Treasury bureau said September’s P178.6-billion deficit was higher than the shortfalls of P2.48 billion in August and P96.2 billion a year ago.
Government revenues rose by 16.89 percent to P236.5 billion in September from the year-earlier P202.4 billion, while expenditures grew by 39.01 percent to P415.1 billion from P298.6 billion in the same month last year.
“Government spending continued to pick up and notched its highest monthly growth, while revenue growth was second only to [that recorded in] May of this year,” the BTr said.
A month earlier, revenues grew by 8.90 percent and expenditures rose by 8.78 percent.
September’s budget gap dragged the year-to-date deficit to P299 billion, 20.95 percent lower than the P378.2 billion posted in the first nine months of 2018.
The government also missed its P364.7-billion budget shortfall program for the January-to-September period by 18.03 percent.
For September alone, the Bureau of Internal Revenue accounted for the bulk of revenues with P150.5 billion, a 15.24-percent increase from P130.6 billion a year earlier. The growth was faster than August’s 11.07 percent.
The Bureau of Customs netted P58.8 billion, up 15.13 percent from last year’s P51.1 billion.
“Growth for the month was attributed to higher imports and collections from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law, [the] Rice Tariffication Law and the National Food Authority tax expenditure collection,” the Treasury bureau said.
Meanwhile, other offices contributed P1.7 billion, bringing total tax revenues for the month to P211 billion.
Tax-revenue growth was faster at 15.15 percent in September than 9.25 percent a month earlier.
Non-tax earnings reached P25.5 billion, with the Treasury contributing P10.7 billion — up 48.83 percent — “fueled by higher returns from BTr investments and deposits,
interest on advances to GOCCs (government-owned and -controlled corporations) and NG (national government) share from Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and
Gaming Corp.) income,” the Treasury bureau said.
The bulk of government spending — P372 billion — was for primary expenditures, which rose by 39.89 percent from P265.9 billion a year ago.
Interest payments of P43.1 billion, on the other hand, accounted for the rest of state spending. It rose by 31.88 percent year-on-year “due to coupon payments for reissued bonds and the five-year RTBs (retail Treasury bonds) issued [in] March 2019, as well as the timing of payments for the 25-year FXTBs (fixed-rate Treasury bonds),” the BTr said.
In a comment, ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said “the impressive performance” of state revenue and spending “gives hope for a 6-percent growth chase toward the end of the year as expenditures roll out while the government continues to streamline and improve its collection efforts.”
Economic growth in the country stood at 5.5 percent in the first half of 2019, well below the government’s downwardly revised target range of 6 to 7 percent.
The first-semester figure — the result of the slower-than-expected 5.6 percent and 5.5 percent gross domestic product (GDP) expansions in the first and second quarters, respectively — was attributed to lackluster state spending, which economic managers blamed on the delayed approval of the 2019 national budget.
“A resurgence in government spending, coupled with still-robust and potent household spending, will look to carry the load for third-quarter GDP growth as capital formation remains handicapped and recovers from its meltdown in the second quarter,” Mapa said.