The government’s budget deficit climbed 71 percent in July to P86.4 billion from P50.5 billion a year ago, as spending picked up 34 percent ahead of the 24-percent increase in tax collection.
The Bureau of the Treasury said as a result, the cumulative budget deficit in the first seven months hit P279.4 billion, or 36 percent higher than the P205-billion shortfall in the same period last year.
Expenditures jumped 34 percent in July to P328.1 billion, after temporarily slowing in June.
“Year-to-date NG expenditures of P1.93 trillion is 23 percent higher than in 2017. This already represents 57 percent of the P3.36 trillion full-year NG expenditure program,” the Treasury said.
Data showed that primary expenditures, or excluding debt interest payments, amounted to P283.3 billion in July, up by 41 percent or P82.8 billion compared to last year. The seven-month primary expenditures reached P1.7 trillion.
The remaining 13.7 percent amounting to P44.8 billion went to interest payments which were virtually unchanged from the July 2017 level.
“The lower domestic IP on account of debt that matured last year was offset by the increase in foreign payments from new bonds issued in February 2018 and in part due to the depreciation of the peso. This brought total IP to P210.4 billion, up 7 percent from last year,” the Treasury said.
Meanwhile, revenue collection improved 24 percent in July to P241.7 billion from the same month last year. This brought the seven-month collections to P1.65 trillion, or 21 percent higher than the comparable period in 2017. It also represented around 58 percent of the P2.84-trillion full-year program.
Bureau of Internal Revenue collections grew 19 percent over the July 2017 level to reach P164.0 billion. Total BIR collections in the first seven months rose 14 percent to P1.12 trillion.
Customs collections surged 49 percent in July to P52.1 billion. “Strong enforcement and revenue enhancement measures, coupled with the weaker peso and higher oil price allowed the bureau to sustain its strong year-on-year growth for the seventh consecutive month of the year. Year-to-date, BOC revenue has increased 35 percent year-on-year, registering at P331.5 billion,” the Treasury said.
The Treasury’s income amounted to P11.8 billion in July, up 39 percent from the previous year. The agency’s seven-month income also hit P77.9 billion, surpassing the 2018 full-year program of P55.8 billion by P22.1 billion or 40 percent.
Non-tax collections from other offices contributed P12.2 billion in July and reached P101.9 billion in the first seven months on a 54-percent growth over the same period last year.
The Treasury said netting out interest payments from the expenditures, the government recorded a P41.5-billion primary deficit in July. The primary deficit reached P69 billion in the seven-month period.