THE GOVERNMENT posted a bigger budget gap in October as it increased spending further, the Treasury bureau reported on Wednesday.
Specifically, the P21.257-billion fiscal deficit was 15% more than September’s P18.501 billion and double the P10.514-billion shortfall seen last year, as the government registered its fourth-biggest monthly expenditure, so far, this year.
Still, the January-October deficit totaled only P74.251 billion, just a fourth of the P300 billion programmed for this year and less than a third of the P270.302 billion recorded in the same period in 2010.
The government must post a deficit of P225.749 billion in the last two months of the year to meet that program. It is also still P186.349 billion away from the revised deficit forecast of P260.6 billion.
Revenues totaled P103.939 billion in October, with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) contributing P70.504 billion and the Bureau of Customs (BoC), P22.843 billion.
The government had shored up P1.121 trillion in revenues from January to October, a jump of more than a tenth from the P993.219 billion collected in the same period last year.
The same report showed that BIR netted about P756.764 billion in the 10 months to October, also a surge of more than a tenth from the P670.895 billion collected last year.
In comparison, the Customs bureau collected P217.45 billion, a marginal increase from the P213.531 billion the year before.
“The government’s premier revenue agencies, the bureaus of Internal Revenue and of Customs, increased their collections from year-ago levels on the back of continued improvement of tax administration efficiency,” Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said in a statement yesterday.
The government aims to collect P1.411 trillion this year, though it has projected it would get just P1.357 trillion due to slower-than-expected economic growth. It must rake in P290.277 billion in November and December to hit the full-year goal, or P236.273 billion to achieve the forecast.
Treasury data also showed that state spending accelerated further.
State spending jumped to P125.196 billion that month, up 14.84% from the P109.017 billion spent last year. It was also significantly more than the P114.928 billion and the P122.838 billion disbursed in August and September, respectively.
The P72.11-billion Disbursement Acceleration Plan approved by President Benigno S.C. Aquino III in September, coupled with agencies’ efforts to catch up on their regular spending, drove expenditures up in October, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said in a separate statement yesterday.
Mr. Abad also noted that infrastructure and capital outlay rose by more than a fifth to P14.3 billion in October, compared to the P11.9 billion disbursed in September and the P11.6 billion the year before.
But spending in the 10-month period totaled just P1.195 trillion against the P1.264 trillion spent the previous year. The government has programmed spending to reach P1.711 trillion in 2011, though it slashed its outlook to P1.618 trillion after sluggish disbursement early in the year.
It must now spend P516.026 billion in November and December to meet its full-year program, or at least P422.622 billion to fulfill its forecast.
Persistent state underspending has been cited as one of the key factors behind the modest economic growth in the first three quarters of the year. Gross domestic product had grown only 3.6% as of the third quarter, well below the government’s 5%-6% yearend target and 4.5%-5.5% outlook. State consumption grew only 9.4%, while public construction fell 21.3%.
University of the Philippines economist Benjamin E. Diokno noted via e-mail that “public underspending — the difference between program and actual expenditures — from January-October was P231 billion, much higher than the underspending from January-September of P205 billion. If interest payments were netted out, government underspending from January-October was P198 billion, much higher than the January-September underspending of P186 billion.”
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By: Diane Claire J. Jiao
Source: Business World, Nov. 30, 2011
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