The national government’s budget deficit as of end-September fell within the deficit ceiling for the nine-month period as revenues outperformed its program faster than expenditures.
According to data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) the budget deficit stood at P970.2 billion in January to September, 9.08 percent below the program of P1.07 trillion.
Revenues for the period surpassed the target by 4.53 percent, whereas expenditures was higher than program by 1.09 percent.
Year-on-year, the nine-month budget deficit narrowed by 1.35 percent compared to the P983.5 billion budget shortfall in January to September 2023.
Revenues also grew at a faster pace year-on-year as it posted a 16.04 percent expansion, while expenditures grew by 11.56 percent.
In September alone, the deficit widened by 8.9 percent to P273.3 billion from last year’s P250.9 billion, as the increase of nominal value of expenditures outpaced the increase in revenues.
The national government’s revenue collection for September climbed to P299.7 billion, outperforming the previous year’s outturn by 17.32 percent.
The resulting year-to-date total similarly rose to P3.3 trillion, 16.04 percent above the 2023 comparable collections and 4.53 percent ahead of the January to September program
The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) collections for September improved to P174.7 billion, 14.79 percent higher year-on-year.
This is attributed to higher personal income tax particularly on withholding on wages due to the release of salary differentials of civilian government personnel pursuant to Executive Order No. 64, which updated from the Salary Standardization Law of 2019.
This is followed by higher collections from documentary stamp tax.
This pushed the BIR’s aggregate nine-month collection to P2.1 trillion, up by 12.73 percent from a year ago and just below the year-to-date target by 0.98 percent.
The BIR’s collection from January to September has reached 73.52 percent of the P2.8 trillion revised full-year 2024 target.
The double-digit year-on-year growth is underscored by higher collection on Value-added tax (VAT), followed by income taxes, other domestic taxes and percentage taxes.
The increase in VAT collections in 2024 is partly due to the impact of the change in payment schedule introduced by the TRAIN law provision which allows the tax filers to shift from monthly to quarterly filing of VAT return.
Meanwhile, collections by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) slid by 3.31 percent to P76.3 billion in September.
This can be attributed to double-digit negative growth in import duties partly due to tariff reduction of some commodities.
Also, the decline is due to an alarming increase in smuggling activities within the year, the BTr said, as the current amount of the BOC’s seized goods has already surpassed their total haul in 2023.
Nevertheless, the BOC’s cumulative revenue of P690.7 billion for 2024 still outperformed the P660.4 billion collected in the equivalent period a year ago and is only 0.46 percent short of the P693.9 billion goal for the nine-month period.
This is due to higher VAT and import duties despite the negative performance in September.
Moreover, BOC’s year-to-date uptake is at 73.5 percent of the P939.7 billion revised full-year program for 2024.
Meanwhile, the national government’s total expenditures for September grew by 13.15 percent to P572.9 billion from P506.3 billion a year ago.
The BTr said the notable increase was mainly attributed to non-interest expenses, particularly due to the implementation of capital outlay projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, larger personnel services expenditures due to the implementation of the first tranche of salary adjustments of qualified civilian government employees pursuant to Executive Order No. 64, as well as the payments for health emergency allowance claims of healthcare workers.
More specifically, September primary expenditures, which is net of interest payments amounted to P499.1 billion, translating to a 14.75 percent growth from last year’s P434.9 billion.
The outturn for the month drove the cumulative primary expenditure to P3.7 trillion, which also grew by 9.48 percent year-on-year.
Overall expenditures from January to September reached P4.3 trillion, accelerating by 11.56 percent year-on-year, leading to a 1.09 percent over-performance compared with the nine-month program of P4.2 trillion.
To date, the national government has already disbursed 74.09 percent of the P5.8 trillion revised full-year program for 2024.
