The national government’s deficit widened in August as revenues declined while expenditures rose year-on-year, the Department of Finance said.
In a press briefing late Friday, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno disclosed that the national government’s budget deficit climbed to P133 billion in August 2023, 84.63 percent higher compared to last year’s budget gap of P72 billion for the same month.
The fiscal outcome is attributed to the 6.58 percent drop in revenue collection coupled with the 9.66 percent expenditure growth.
This brings the year-to-date fiscal performance to a budget deficit of P732.5 billion, 12.06 percent down from the year ago level of P833 billion.
Total revenue for August amounted to P310.6 billion, marking a decrease of 6.58 percent compared to the previous year’s collection of P332.4 billion.
On the other hand, year-to-date revenue reached P2.58 trillion, reflecting a 9.03 percent increase year-over-year and is equivalent to 69 percent of the P3.7 trillion 2023 program.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) collections in August fell 6.73 percent to P213.5 billion from P228.9 billion a year ago.
“The reason of the BIR is because they shifted the VAT (filing and payment) from monthly to quarterly,” Diokno said.
Year-to-date, the BIR’s collection totaled to P1.71 trillion, surpassing the previous year’s outturn by 9.43 percent.
The Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) collected revenue also declined in August by 4.92 percent to P75 billion from the P78.9 billion generated in the same period last year.
“Basically for the BOC… I think their collection days were reduced because of the inclement weather. They will make it up for the following months,” Diokno said.
“I’m not concerned about the collection of BOC, they’re still way ahead, year-to-date,” he added.
From January to August, BOC’s collections still recorded an increase of 3.99 percent to P581.5 billion.
Meanwhile, the national government’s expenditures in August reached P443.6 billion, up by 9.66 percent from last year’s P404.5 billion.
The end-August total disbursement amounting to P3.31 trillion similarly outpaced the P3.2 trillion spent in the same period a year ago by 3.54 percent, and accounted for 63 percent of the P5.2 trillion programmed for the year.
