Budget gap widens to P237.5 billion in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is facing the worst of times, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said yesterday as he announced that the country’s budget deficit has widened to P237.5 billion during the first nine months of this year, a sharp 345 percent increase from the P53.4 billion deficit incurred in the same period last year and just P12.5 billion shy of the full-year ceiling of P250 billion.

In September alone, the deficit hit P27.5 billion or 27.2 percent more than the P21.6 billion deficit incurred in the same month last year.

Teves attributed the widening of the deficit to weak revenues brought about by a slowdown in economic activities.

“We may be facing the worst of times but we are not giving up. With everybody’s continued support and cooperation, we believe that we will be able to hurdle these challenges,” Teves said.

He said the government is still hopeful it would meet its P250 billion budget deficit ceiling this year through the privatization of three major state-owned assets such as the Food Terminal Inc. property in Taguig, the government’s 40 percent stake in PNOC-Exploration Corp., and the government-sequestered 24-percent block in San Miguel Corp. by yearend.

Total revenues for the January to September period amounted P839.8 billion, short by P74.4 billion against its target for the period. Total expenditures for the nine-month period amounted to P1.07 trillion, lower than the program by P54.4 billion.

Of the total revenues, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P557 billion, short by P39.2 billion against its target for the period. Similarly, the Bureau of Customs incurred a P36 billion program shortfall with total collection amounting to P165.4 billion during the period.

Proceeds from privatization reached P65.1 billion or lower than the program by P3.6 billion.

Only the Bureau of the Treasury reached its revenue target for the period, posting an income of P52.2 billion.

In September alone, revenues reached P100.7 billion, 12.3 percent more than the P89.6 billion it generated in the same period last year.

Expenditures, on the other hand, reached P128.2 billion or 15.2 percent more than the P111.3 billion it disbursed in the same period last year.

Of the total revenues, the BIR collected P56.2 billion, just slightly higher than the P55.8 billion it disbursed in the same period last year.

The BOC, on the other hand, collected only P18.3 billion because of the low volume of imports. This was lower than the P25.8 billion it collected in the same month last year.

Revenues from other offices reached P20.2 billion, also higher than the previous year’s collection of P5.9 billion while the Bureau of the Treasury collected P6 billion or higher than the P2.2 billion it collected in the same period last year.

Teves said that the two tax agencies need to work harder to be able to raise more revenues.

“We are really facing tough times. Our revenue collection efforts are seriously hampered by the slowdown in economic activities and tax breaks that were granted through legislation,” the Finance chief said. –Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star)