THE national government reported a budget deficit of P42.6 billion for the first six months of the year—a contraction of 77.91 percent compared to the P193-billion deficit reported in the same month in 2018, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
Based on the latest data from the BTr, expenditures of P1.590 trillion outpaced revenues of P1.547 trillion during the six-month period.
Broken down, the expenditures of P1.590 trillion represented a 0.83-percent decrease from the P1.603 trillion recorded during the same period for 2018, while revenues of P1.547 trillion showed an increase of 9.71 percent from last year’s P1.410 trillion.
Tax revenues accounted for P1.380 trillion of the total revenues collected for the six-month period, which showed an increase of 10.06 percent from the P1.254 trillion recorded last year.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) reported revenues of P1.066 trillion, an increase of 10.56 percent from last year’s P964.5 billion.
Revenue from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) amounted to P303 billion for the period, down by 8.45 percent from last year’s P279.4 billion.
Meanwhile, nontax revenues amounted to P166.6 billion, or an increase of 6.95 percent from the P155.8 billion in 2018, with the BTr contributing P87.6 billion to the total nontax revenues for the period.
June deficit
For June alone, the national government’s budget deficit amounted to P41.8 billion, which is lower by 22.93 percent from the deficit recorded in June 2018 of P54.3 billion.
The government reported a budget deficit of P41.8 billion for June 2019, as expenditures amounted to P275.7 billion, higher than the revenues recorded for the month of P233.5 billion.
Broken down, expenditures of P275.7 billion for the month posted a decrease of 0.99 percent from the P278.5 billion recorded in the same month for 2018; while revenues rose 4.32 percent to P233.9 billion from P224.2 billion reported last year.
“Interest payments [IP] in June amounting to P29.1 billion were up 20.91 percent year-on-year. IP growth can be attributed to the discount for Treasury bills and coupon payment for the five-year RTB [retail Treasury bond] issued this year, as well as IP of foreign loans availed last December and higher Libor [London Inter-bank Offered Rate] rates,” the BTr said. Under revenues, P210.5 billion was sourced from tax revenues while nontax revenues comprised P23.4 billion of the total.
Tax revenues posted an increase of 11.85 percent compared to the June 2018 level of P188.2 billion, while nontax revenues shrank 35.06 percent compared to last year’s P36 billion.
Revenues from the BIR amounted to P157.8 billion for the month, or a 15.39-percent increase from last year’s P136.8 billion.
The BOC also recorded revenues for the month amounting to P51.3 billion, showing an uptick of 2.5 percent from the P50 billion recorded in 2018.
The nontax revenues from BTr amounted to P10.7 billion, higher by 37.13 percent than the P7.8 billion recorded in June 2018.
Meanwhile, nontax revenues from other offices amounted to P12.7 billion, which represented a contraction of 55.02 percent from last year’s P28.2 billion.
ING Bank Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said that government spending continues to be a struggle despite the 2019 national budget having been already passed, which resulted in the budget deficit for June.
“The Philippines posted a budget deficit of P41.8 billion slightly lower than the deficit posted in June 2018 of P54.3 billion as spending continued to struggle, down roughly 1 percent despite the 2019 budget finally on track. Even with the spending plan enacted and the May election ban lifted by June, spending in second quarter of 2019 actually slipped by roughly 2.3 percent from the second quarter 2018 levels. Despite the government’s best efforts to implement ‘catch up spending,’ the projected misstep coming from the government spending side coupled with possible handicapped capital formation could mean 2Q GDP struggles to get past 6 percent again,” Mapa said.