The government’s budget deficit rose 66.3 percent in January to P23.4 billion from the P14.1-billion shortfall a year ago, as public disbursements increased 9.7 percent, outpacing the 6.7-percent rise in revenue collection, data from the Bureau of the Treasury show.
Revenue collection amounted to P278.1 billion in January, up P17.3 billion from a year ago. The bulk of the total or 92 percent was from taxes amounting to P255.3 billion, while non-tax collections amounted to P22.8 billion.
Collections by the Bureau of Internal Revenue went up by 7.5 percent to P195.8 billion, or P13.6 billion higher than the P182.2 billion collections made in January 2021.
The P58.3 billion collected by the Bureau of Customs also improved by 23.43 percent or P11.1 billion from P47.3 billion posted in the same period last year.
“Improved valuation, intensified enforcement against illegal importation, improved compliance by traders to customs laws, gradual improvement of importation volume, and the government’s effort in ensuring unhampered movement of goods domestically and internationally drove the positive performance for the month,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Income generated by the Bureau of the Treasury went down by 41.75 percent to P10.9 billion from a year earlier, on high base effect of dividend remittances of the National Transmission Corp. and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. in January 2021.
January collections from other offices amounted to P11.9 billion or 7.96 percent above last year’s outturn of P11.0 billion.
Meanwhile, the government’s disbursement went up by 9.70 percent or P26.7 billion in January to P301.5 billion on higher national tax allocation releases. Of the total, 78 percent or P235.9 billion were primary expenditures which grew by 3.57 percent over last year’s level.
Interest payments of P65.6 billion also went up by 39.40 percent from last year’s P47.0 billion. Interest payments accounted for 23.57 percent of revenue and 21.74 percent of expenditures, up from last year’s 18.04 percent and 17.11 percent, respectively.
“Net of interest payments, the national government’s primary surplus for the first month of the year reached P42.2 billion, 27.92 percent or P9.2 billion higher than the P33.0 billion primary surplus recorded in the equivalent period last year,” the Treasury said.
The government posted a budget deficit of P1.67 trillion in 2021, or 21.78 percent higher than the P1.37-trillion deficit in 2020, as the 10.60-percent expansion in expenditures outpaced the 5.24-percent increase in revenues.
The full-year deficit was equivalent to 8.61 percent of gross domestic product, lower than the programmed 9.3 percent but still higher than the 7.65 percent recorded in 2020.
Data from the Department of Finance showed that the BIR and the Customs collected a total of P2.732 trillion in 2021, surpassing their combined collection target of P2.698 trillion by 1.26 percent for the period.
The amount raised by BIR and Customs for 2021 was 9.78 percent more than their 2020 actual combined collection of P2.489 trillion. The BIR collected P2.086 trillion, or 0.25 percent above its target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee of P2.081 trillion for the year.
The BIR’s 2021 collection was 6.93 percent over its actual collection of P1.951 trillion in 2020, according to Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko.
Customs collection reached P645.77 billion in 2021, against the DBCC-set goal of P616.75 billion. It also surpassed its actual 2020 collection of P537.69 billion by 20.10 percent, Tionko said.
Data showed that on a per-day basis, the BIR and Customs’ combined collection averaged around P11.02 billion against the daily collection target of P10.88 billion, according to the DOF estimates.