The national government’s budget deficit in the first half of the year fell below the program set for the period due to the better-than-expected revenue performance as of June.
According to the Bureau of the Treasury, the deficit in January to June stood at P613.9 billion, 7.24 percent below the ceiling of P661.8 billion.
Revenues exceeded the goal by 3.49 percent while expenditures inched up above program by 0.9 percent.
Year-on-year, the deficit widened by 11.27 percent from P551.7 billion a year ago as both revenues and expenditures recorded double-digit expansions.
For June alone, the deficit narrowed by 7.24 percent to P209.1 billion from P225.4 billion last year as the growth in revenues outpaced that of expenditures.
The total revenues in the first semester amounted to P2.15 trillion, 3.49 percent above program and 15.56 percent up year-on-year.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s first half collections fell slightly below its target by 2.92 percent while the Bureau of Customs inched up by 2.91 percent.
Non-tax revenues drove the strong performance for revenue collections six months into the year, exceeding the goal by 46.1 percent.
For the month of June, total revenues amounted to P296.5 billion, up 10.93 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the first semester expenditures reached P2.76 trillion, 0.9 percent up from the previous year’s P2.74 trillion.
It also went up by 14.58 percent against the previous year’s expenses of P2.41 trillion.
In June, government expenditures rose by 2.62 percent to P505.6 billion.
