The government’s budget deficit went down by 24.75 percent in November to P93.3 billion from a year ago on lower public spending and improved revenue collection, the Bureau of the Treasury said Thursday.
Data showed the lower budget deficit in November brought the 11-month fiscal deficit to P1.111 trillion, down by 10.09 percent from a year earlier. This also represented 74.10 percent of the P1.499-trillion deficit programmed for 2023.
Revenues in November rose 2.8 percent to P340.4 billion from last year’s P331.1 billion, driven by the sharp increase in non-tax collection. As a result, the cumulative collection in the 11-month period went up by 8.75 percent to P3.564 trillion year-on-year, while representing 95.58 percent of the P3.729 trillion full-year target.
The Treasury said 89.28 percent, or P3.182 trillion, was generated through taxes with the remaining 10.72 percent came from non-tax sources.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) collection in November decreased to P210.2 billion (net of P1.2 billion tax refund) from P237.1 billion raised in the same month last year due to the shift in VAT remittance deadline.
Meanwhile, the agency’s 11-month collection reached P2.343 trillion, outperforming the previous year’s outturn by 8.64 percent or P186.3 billion and reaching 88.77 percent of the P2.639 trillion FY 2023 program.
Collections by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) slowed by 2.69 percent to P73.7 billion in November from a year ago.
The Bureau of the Treasury ‘s(BTr) income surged to P41.5 billion in November from P5.3 billion in 2022, driven by higher dividend remittances and NG share from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s income.
This pushed BTr cumulative revenue to P216.3 billion, surpassing the level registered in the same period last year by 45.96 percent (P68.1 billion).
Meanwhile, the government’s expenditures in November went down by 4.69 percent, or P21.3 billion, year-on-year.
The lower government expenditure was due to the lower national tax allotment shares of local government units, lower direct payments made by development partners for foreign-assisted rail transport projects of the DOTr and the different timing or schedule of big-ticket disbursements.