The national government posted a lower budget surplus in April compared to a year ago amid the acceleration in public expenditures, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported yesterday.
According to the BTr, the government achieved a P42.7 billion budget surplus for April, 36.03 percent lower than last year’s P66.8 billion.
The BTr attributed the smaller surplus for the month to the significant growth in expenditures, which outpaced the rise in revenue collection.
As a result, the year-to-date budget deficit stood at P229.9 billion, up 12.66 percent than last year’s level.
Total revenue for April reached P537.2 billion, surpassing the P440.7 billion collection in the same month a year ago by 21.9 percent.
The increase in tax revenues for the month was fueled by the double-digit hike in the collections of revenue collecting agencies, while the higher non-tax revenues was due to strong dividend remittance.
As of end-April, the government’s revenue improved to P1.5 trillion, 16.8 percent more than the P1.3 trillion raised in the equivalent period a year ago.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s collection rose by 12.65 percent to P378.5 billion in April versus last year’s P336 billion.
According to the BTr, the bureau’s collection growth was due to an overperformance in all major tax types compared to the same period in 2023.
Both income tax and value added tax (VAT) posted double-digit growth as annual income tax filing and the first quarter VAT payments are due during the said month.
With the bureau’s April performance, its cumulative uptake increased to P970.3 billion, outperforming the P841.2 billion logged for the first four months of 2023 by 15.35 percent.
Total collections by the Bureau of Customs for April were recorded at P80.7 billion, reflecting a 19.52 percent increase from the previous year’s outturn.
This pushed the agency’s cumulative collection from January to April to P299.6 billion, growing by 6.47 percent on a year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, BTr income for the month surged to P64 billion, more than tripling the amount registered in the same month a year ago.
This significant growth was primarily driven by the increase in dividend remittances as some government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) already increased their remitted annual net earnings to 75 percent from the previously mandated 50 percent in compliance with the Department of Finance’s directive.
The resulting year-to-date BTr income rose to P136.3 billion, more than twice the previous year’s comparable performance.
Meanwhile, national government expenditure reached P494.5 billion, posting year-on-year growth of 32.25 percent for the month.
The BTr said that the expansion was driven by higher releases of the national tax allotment and subsidies to GOCCs.
As of end-April, the government’s disbursement stood at P1.7 trillion, also exceeding the previous year’s spending performance for the same period by 16.22 percent.
April primary expenditures were at P427 billion, 30.32 percent higher than the previous year’s level.
Similarly, year-to-date primary expenditure of P1.4 trillion surpassed the P1.3 trillion recorded in the first four months of 2023 by 12.95 percent.
The first quarter deficit to gross domestic product ratio was at 4.46 percent, decreasing from the 4.82 percent posted in the equivalent period last year.
Meanwhile, the revenue and tax effort ratios for the three-month period improved to 15.28 percent and 13.43 percent compared to 14.58 percent and 12.95 percent in 2023, respectively.
Lastly, expenditure effort increased to 19.74 percent, from 19.4 percent as of the end of the first quarter of 2023.
