Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 26) — The national government’s budget deficit slightly contracted in September as revenue growth outpaced spending, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed Wednesday.
In a statement, it said the budget deficit narrowed to ₱179.8 billion, lower than the ₱180.9 billion recorded in the same period in 2021. A higher budget deficit will force the government to borrow more funds to fill the gap.
The figure pushed the budget deficit for the January-September period to ₱1 trillion, shrinking by ₱126.3 billion from a year ago.
The Treasury attributed September’s budget deficit to the stronger revenue growth reaching 24.79%, against expenditures’ 13.63%.
“The economy reopened further towards greater normalcy that fundamentally boosted tax revenue collections on a year-on-year basis, while also somewhat reducing the government’s COVID-related expenditures since there are no more large scale lockdowns so far this year,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort said in his emailed commentary Wednesday.
Revenue collection last month grew to ₱288.8 billion, with the Bureau of Internal Revenue collecting ₱173.6 billion. The Bureau of Customs, meanwhile, collected ₱79.3 billion.
The agency itself booked ₱7.3 billion in revenue, a 30.29% increase versus the same month last year.
Total collections from other offices also jumped to ₱28.2 billion.
On the other hand, expenses in September climbed to ₱468.6 billion compared to the ₱412.4 billion registered a year prior.
“This was driven mainly by higher capital expenditures, National Tax Allotment of LGUs, and Interest Payments (IP), alongside the subsidy releases to Philhealth for the National Health Insurance Program,” the Treasury said.
