Budget shortfall widens to P273.3B in September

THE government’s budget deficit widened to P273.3 billion in September as spending outpaced revenue collections, the Bureau of the Treasury reported on Thursday.

It significantly increased from August’s P54.2-billion shortfall, was also higher than the year-earlier P250.9 billion, and brought the year-to-date deficit to P970.2 billion.

The January-September tally was lower than the P1.07-trillion shortfall recorded in the same period last year and was also 9.08-percent short of the P1.1 trillion programmed for the nine-month period this year.

The September deficit was equivalent to 65.36 percent of the full-year revised target of P1.5 trillion.

Revenues for September rose 17.32 percent to P299.7 billion from P44.2 billion last year and brought the total for 2024 so far to P3.3 trillion, a 16.04-percent increase from the same period in 2023 and also 4.5 percent higher than the programmed P3.15 trillion.

Spending, meanwhile, increased by 13.15 percent to P572.9 billion from P506.3 billion, which drove cumulative expenditures to P4.26 trillion. This was 11.6 percent higher year on year and also 1.1 percent over the P4.22-trillion target.

Tax revenues contributed the bulk of year-to-date collections, amounting to P2.8 trillion and up 10.62 percent year on year.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue reported a 14.79-percent growth in September collections to P174.7 billion, driven by higher personal income taxes and documentary stamp taxes. The take to date rose to P2.1 trillion, about 1-percent short of the programmed P2.11 trillion.

The Bureau of Customs, meanwhile, saw a 3.31-percent decline in September collections to P76.3 billion, which was attributed to weaker import duties and rising smuggling activities.

The agency’s tally of P690.7 billion as of end-September, however, exceeded last year’s performance by 4.6 percent and was only less than half a percent below the nine-month target.

Nontax revenues, meanwhile, surged by 111.16 percent in September to P46.2 billion, supported by a one-off windfall from the public-private partnership concession agreement for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Year-to-date nontax revenue collections totaled P481.1 billion, a 62.54-percent increase from P296.0 billion last year and 52.3 percent more than the programmed P315.9 billion.

The Treasury recorded nontax collections of P9.9 billion, 24.8-percent up from P7.9 billion a year ago, due to a higher national government (NG) share of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. income, interest income from NG deposits and guarantee fee collections.

This brought the bureau’s nine-month tally to P210.2 billion, up from P158.0 billion a year ago and 33.1 percent more than the P158-billion target.

Other offices generated nontax revenues of P36.3 billion in September, more than double the year-earlier P13.9 billion. Year to date, other offices earned P270.9 billion, up from the year-earlier P137.9 billion and 71.5 percent higher than the programmed P157.9 billion.

As for spending, the Treasury said that September’s rise was driven by capital outlays, higher personnel services costs and payments for health emergency allowances.

Primary expenditures accounted for P499.1 billion of September’s spending, up from P434.9 billion a year earlier. Year to date, these rose to P3.68 trillion from P3.36 trillion.

Interest payments, which accounted for the rest of expenditures, rose to P73.9 billion from P71.4 billion in September due to servicing of new external loans availed from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations.

The nine-month total of P583.3 billion was also up from P460.1 billion a year earlier.

Excluding interest payments, the national government recorded a primary deficit of P199.4 billion in September, higher than the year-earlier P179.5 billion.

The year-to-date primary deficit of P386.9 billion, however, was lower than the P523.4 billion a year ago and was also 20-percent short of the programmed P483.7 billion.