The government incurred a budget deficit of P61.7 billion in February, up from P23.7-billion deficit a year ago, as robust spending continued to outpace revenue collections, the Bureau of the Treasury said Wednesday.
The Treasury said the gap resulted in a P51.5-billion deficit in the two-month period, still within the annual deficit target.
“Strong revenues and expenditures growth characterize the fiscal performance in the first two months of 2018. Robust spending growth brought the national government back into a deficit amounting to P61.7 billion for February,” the Treasury said.
Expenditures jumped 37 percent in February to P240.3 billion from a year ago. Total spending in January and February reached P469.0 billion, up 26 percent or P95.3 billion year-on-year.
“Primary expenditures [total expenditures net of interest payments] amounted to P389.3 billion, 27 percent or P82.2 billion higher than its comparative amount a year ago,” the agency said.
Revenue collection went up 18 percent in February to P178.5 billion, with the government’s major revenue collecting agencies all posting double-digit year-on-year growth.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P116.6 billion in February, or 10 percent higher than the February 2017 collection. BIR’s total collections in the first two months hit P292.3 billion, up 15 percent from a year ago, with the implementation of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law.
“This impressive performance is attributable to the implementation of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion, particularly the imposition of adjustments in the excise tax rates for automobiles, minerals, alcohol and tobacco which grew by 71 percent for the first two months, as well as the new excise taxes The Bureau of Customs collected P43.7 billion in February, up by 42 percent or P12.9 billion from the same month last year. Tariff collection in January and February also rose 27 percent or P17.8 billion year-on-year to P84.5 billion.
Income from the Bureau of the Treasury climbed 10 percent in February to P5.9 billion, on higher national government deposits and remittances of dividends on shares of stocks owned by the national government and share in Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s income.
The Treasury’s two month collection rose 5 percent to P14 billion.
Non-tax collections from other offices grew 25 percent in February to P9.4 billion and 48 percent to P22.5 billion in the first two months.
Total debt interest payments reached P36.2 billion in February, up 49 percent over the amount recorded for the same period last year. This was driven by foreign interest payments, mainly due to accrued interest paid as part of the Global Bond Switch transaction and the weaker peso.
Total interest payments increased 20 percent in the first two months to P79.7 billion and accounted for 17 percent of total disbursements.
“Excluding interest payments from expenditures, NG recorded a P25.6 billion primary deficit for February, a reversal of the P506-million primary surplus recorded in the same period last year. In spite of this, primary balance for the first two months of 2018 is still at a surplus of P28.1 billion,” the Treasury said.