Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said the government once again incurred a budget surplus in February, after it recorded such during the first month of the year.
Recto, however, does not expect this budget performance to be sustained for the rest of the year, as the government has a deficit ceiling of P1.39 trillion, equivalent to 5.1 percent of gross domestic product.
“There is a surplus in January, there is a surplus in February. So far, the revenue seems to be good. I hope that holds all the way up to the end of the year,” Recto told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference last Tuesday.
“For me, for as long as we hit our targets, our revenue targets, and our expenditure targets… I don’t expect a surplus by the end of the year. I’m just stating a fact. For as long as we hit our targets, I’m happy with that,” he added.
Without citing the nominal figures, Recto said for the last two months and a half, government revenues are up 20 percent year-on-year, while spending recorded a 10 percent increase.
“So we do have a surplus. So far, we’re hitting the numbers, surpassing the targets, and we hope that continues,” Recto said.
“We’re assisting the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau
of Customs by analyzing all the data and provide them with that data as well, where to concentrate to collect the taxes and to whom they should be collecting the taxes from,” he added.
Last Friday, the Bureau of the Treasury reported that the national government posted a larger budget surplus of P88 billion for January 2024 compared to the P45.7 billion recorded a year ago, reflecting an increase of 92.25 percent.
The agency said the fiscal outturn was brought about by a faster 21.15 percent year-over-year increase in revenue collection, outpacing the 10.39 percent expansion in government spending.
In particular, total revenue for the first month of the year rose to P421.8 billion from P348.2 billion last year, driven by higher tax collections which comprised 91.31 percent or P385.2 billion of the total collection.
National government disbursements for January likewise sped up to P333.9 billion, higher relative to last year’s spending of P302.4 billion.
