Deficit goals missed
Revenue growth continues to outpace spending
The government posted a P54.3-billion deficit in June, the Bureau of the Treasury reported on Monday, missing its goal for the month as revenue growth continued to outpace that for spending.
The shortfall, larger than May’s P32.9 billion but lower compared to the P90.9 billion posted a year earlier, brought the year-to-date deficit to P193 billion – also short of the first-half target.
“[F]iscal results for June 2018 indicates a lower-than-programmed deficit of P54.3 billion, down 40 percent from the June 2017 level, on the back of strong revenue growth exceeding the acceleration in government spending,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Government revenues rose by 25 percent to P224.2 billion, from P179.8 billion last year, while expenditures grew 3 percent to P278.5 billion from P270.7 billion.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue accounted for the bulk at P136.8 billion, 4 percent higher compared to the year-earlier P131.2 billion.
The Bureau of Customs netted P50 billion — a 41-percent gain from last year’s P35.4 billion — while other offices contributed P1.4 billion, bringing total tax revenues for June to P188.2 billion.
Non-tax earnings, meanwhile, totaled P36 billion with the Bureau of the Treasury contributing P7.8 billion — up 66 percent “due to higher remittance of dividends on NG (national government) shares of stocks, guarantee fees and share in Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) profit.”
Other offices contributed P28.2 billion, more than 300 percent up from last year’s P7 billion and “partly attributed to the transfer of P13.5 billion in bond proceeds from UCPB (United Coconut Planters Bank) for the Coconut Industry Investment Fund to the Special Account in the General Fund for Coco Levies.”
The bulk of government expenditures, meanwhile, was for items classified as “others,” which rose by 1 percent to P254.4 billion. Interest payments totaling P24.1 billion, up 25 percent year on year, were mostly due to domestic interest payments of P19.5 billion including those for five-year retail treasury bonds issued in December 2017.
“Foreign interest payments of P4.6 billion is also up by 9 percent due to the weaker peso and the increase in floating interest rates for the month,” the Treasury said.
YTD tally
The six-month shortfall of P193 billion, meanwhile, was 25 percent higher than the P154.4 billion posed during the comparative 2017 period.
It was, however, 27 percent or P71.3 billion lower than programmed. Revenue collections exceeded projections by P105.7 billion or 8 percent and also outpaced the 2 percent or P34.4-billion above-target increase in spending.
January to June revenues grew by 20 percent year-on-year to P1.410 trillion while year-to-date expenditures also registered 20-percent growth to P1.603 trillion.
“Other” expenditures rose 22 percent to P1.438 trillion and interest payments recorded 9 percent growth to P165.5 billion.
The Treasury said the interest payment tally was still 4 percent within program and generated savings of P7.5 billion despite having grown by 9 percent year on year.
Netting out interest payments, the government recorded a P30.2-billion primary deficit in June, narrower than the P71.6 billion primary shortfall last year.
Year-to-date, the primary balance hit a deficit of P27.5 billion, wider than last year’s P2.9-billion gap.
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