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It is
likely that the budget deficit in the first half would
prove better than target, the Department of Finance said
on Thursday.
According to Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran, initial
indications of strong revenue flows and on-budget
spending in June boosted optimism that the government
spent much less than the six-month deficit goal of
P40.96 billion.
He said
it is quite evident that the actual deficit last month
should prove lower than target.
Beltran,
who heads the DOF’s fiscal planning unit, pointed out
the five-month deficit stood at only P18.8 billion, or
way below the first-half deficit goal.
He did
not on the actual calculations, but according to Beltran
the P7 billion budget surplus in May pared the shortfall
in the first five months to only P18.8 billion.
In
contrast, the deficit stood at P41.8 billion in the same
period last year.
“We are
likely to overperform our fiscal target in the first
half,” Beltran told reporters on Thursday.
His
optimism contrasted sharply with the analysis from
Moody’s Investor Service and that of the International
Monetary Fund, that says the fiscal sector should have a
tough time meeting its P75-billion deficit goal due to
unplanned social spending forced on it by soaring food
and oil prices.
Beltran
said revenues for the first half was broadly on track
with the goal of raising at least P561.7 billion for the
period.
Public
spending, the need to subsidize food for the less
financially endowed notwithstanding, was also believed
on track and likely to fall within the programmed P602.7
billion.
Actual
spending during the first five months stood at P501.2
billion, he said.
Beltran
also said public spending is never compressed in the
first five months to keep the bottomline shortfall at a
reasonable level.
In the
first five months, actual spending stood at P501.2
billion, or 5.7 percent higher than P474.4 billion a
earlier, according to Beltran. |
