The national government’s tax effort increased as of the third quarter of this year, with the country’s finance chief saying the fiscal indicators are improving.
Benjamin Diokno, Department of Finance (DOF) secretary, said in a message to reporters the tax effort, defined as taxes as percent of gross domestic product (GDP), rose to 15.3 percent from 14.8 percent in 2021.
“For the 10-month period, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P1.9 trillion, up by 12.6 percent over the same period a year ago; Bureau of Customs (BOC) collected P713.5 billion, up by 35.8 percent over the same period in 2021,” Diokno said.
“The national government deficit as percent of GDP for the first three quarters slowed to 6.5 percent from 8.3 percent a year ago,” he added.
The growth of the government’s tax collections was able to outperform economic growth, even as the economy accelerated 7.6 percent in the third quarter alone.
In the first three quarters, the economy expanded 7.7 percent.
The government is confident that it is on track to achieving its growth target of 6.5 to 7.5 percent for 2022.
Given the latest GDP outturn, the economy only needs to grow by 3.3 to 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter. – Angela Celis
