The national government reverted to a budget surplus in June as the 2019 income taxes came in and amid the resumption of some economic activities, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.
The BTr said in a statement yesterday the government incurred a P1.8 -billion budget surplus in June, compared with last year’s deficit of P41.8 billion.
“The fiscal surplus was driven by 50.06 percent growth in government receipts… outpacing the 26.65 percent expansion in government spending,” the BTr said.
The P560.4- billion deficit for the six-month period, although lagging behind the P751.1 billion revised program by 25.38 percent, was still wider compared to last year’s budget gap of P42.6 billion.
Revenue collection rose to P351 billion in June, posting a robust double-digit increase of 50.06 percent from last year’s P233.9 billion.
Year-to-date, revenues amounted to P1.45 trillion, down 6.09 percent from a year ago, but 0.12 percent higher than the adjusted P1.45 trillion program.
The BTr said bulk of the collections in June came from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which significantly improved its take by 79.1 percent versus P282.7 billion the previous year, marking a recovery from three consecutive months of contraction.
“BIR’s strong performance for the period was attributed to the collection of the 2019 income tax dues during the month as well as the resumption of economic activities due to the easing of some quarantine restrictions,” the BTr said.
This enabled the agency to surpass its revised program of P933.5 billion for the first semester by 2.45 percent, with P956.4 billion collected, but still lagged behind last year’s actual revenue of P1.07 trillion by 10.31 percent.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) collected P42.6 billion in June, down 16.97 percent from the same period in 2019, which the BTr attributed to the adverse impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.
Likewise, BOC’s total mid-year collection narrowed to P253.1 billion, 16.47 percent below last year’s six-month total and 0.45 percent short of the P254.2 billion adjusted goal.
The BTr also generated a total income of P11.3 billion for June, beating last year’s level by 5.85 percent.
“Collections for the month were buoyed by higher remittance of interest on advances from government-owned and -controlled corporations and dividends on shares of stocks held by the government which offset the decline in national government share from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. income,” the BTr said.
BTr’s income as of end-June amounting to P183.2 billion is more than double the amount collected for the first semester of 2019, and has outperformed the original full-year target of P82.3 billion by P101 billion.
Revenue from other offices, such as other non-tax collections including privatization proceeds and fees and charges, went up 12.64 percent to P14.3 billion in June, which the BTr said includes the reversion of the P5 billion unutilized fund from the Small Business Wage Subsidy program.
The year-to-date collection of P53.7 billion, on the other hand, decreased by 31.95 percent from the previous year, missing the revised program by 33.53 percent, which the BTr attributed to the effect of the nationwide lockdown on the operations of various national government collecting agencies.
Meanwhile, the national government’s disbursements for the month increased to P349.2 billion, up 26.65 percent over last year’s level of P275.7 billion, which the BTr said was largely on account of the subsidies to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and National Housing Authority.
This brought the cumulative expenditures to P2.01 trillion for the six-month period, growing 26.63 percent than the 2019 figure, while it is 8.58 percent below the revised program of P2.2 trillion.
Primary spending, or expenditures net of interest payments, in June increased by 30.42 percent over comparable figures a year ago, settling at P321.7 billion.
Total primary expenditures for the first half of 2020 similarly grew by 29.5 percent year-on-year to P1.83 trillion, but missed the nearly P2 trillion program by 8.48 percent, which the BTr said was due mainly to the implementation of the second tranche of the Social Amelioration Program which is still ongoing.
