Government budget gap hits P63.9 billion in March

MANILA, Philippines – The government incurred a budget deficit of P63.9 billion in March, 21.3 percent higher than the deficit incurred in the same month last year, the Department of Finance (DOF) reported yesterday.

Total revenues for the month amounted to P96.9 billion, 27.6 percent higher compared to March last year while expenditures during the review period amounted to P160.7 billion, an increase of 25 percent from a year ago.

For the first three months of the year, the government incurred a deficit of P134.2 billion, way above the P110.9-billion target for the period because of setbacks in the privatization of state-owned assets, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said yesterday.

Despite this, Teves said the government could still achieve its full-year deficit ceiling of P293 billion.

“Overall, we can still achieve that,” Teves said, adding that the government can still sell state-owned assets in the latter part of the year. It was supposed to raise at least P14 billion from privatization in the first quarter of the year but market conditions and administrative problems prevented the government from meeting this target.

The P134.2-billion deficit in the first quarter was also 12.1 percent above the P119.7-billion deficit incurred in the same period last year.

Total revenues during the period amounted to P265.8 billion or slightly below the programmed collection of P266.3 billion while expenditures reached P400 billion or P22.8 billion above the programmed amount of P377.2 billion.

Of the revenues, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P173.9 billion, exceeding its goal by P16.2 billion while the Bureau of Customs (BOC) collected P60.6 billion, higher than its target by P5.4 billion.

The Bureau of the Treasury, meanwhile, registered an income of P13.9 billion or lower than program by P2.9 billion while revenues from other offices which included privatization amounted to P17.4 billion or short by P19.1 billion against the program.

Teves said that on the expenditure side, the government exceeded the program by P22.8 billion as savings on interest payments were offset by higher capital spending mostly for reconstruction, road rehabilitation and the nautical highway projects. –Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star)