THE government posted a P28.8-billion fiscal surplus in August, driven by faster year-on-year growth in expenditures of 14 percent alongside revenue expansion of 10 percent, the Bureau of the Treasury said Friday.
“The surplus allowed the year-to-date deficit to be trimmed down to P176.2 billion from the January to July deficit of P205.0 billion,” the Treasury said.
The surplus, however, was slower by 12 percent compared with the surplus of P32.6 billion in the same period last year.
Total revenues in August amounted to P230.4 billion, up 10 percent from the collections recorded a year earlier. Year-to-date collections rose 8 percent from last year to P1.601 trillion, with tax revenues making up 91 percent of the total revenue collection.
Collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue reflected strong year-on-year growth at 9 percent to reach P171.7 billion for the month. Year-to-date growth is also at 9 percent, with collections as of August amounting to P1.157 trillion.
Bureau of Customs collections, meanwhile, rose 16 percent over the same month last year and totaled P38.3 billion, resulting in a year-to-date collection of P283.6 billion or a year-on-year growth of 11 percent.
The Bureau of the Treasury posted a P6.2-billion income, up 6 percent from August 2016 due to higher government service income resulting from the one-off remittance of the national government’s share from the profit of the Alabang Stock Farm Project amounting to P1.2 billion, offsetting the lower income from Bond Sinking Fund/Securities Stabilization Fund transactions.
January-to-August 2017 earnings totaled P67.4 billion, down 14 percent owing to lower dividends and rationalization of the Bond Sinking Fund and NG cash holdings. The actual collections has already surpassed the 2017 full-year program of P58.6 billion by P8.8 billion or 15 percent.
Collections (non-tax) from other offices contributed P11.9 billion for the month and improved 1 percent year-on-year, while year-to-date revenue of P78.1 billion also indicates a 1-percent rise in collections over the same period last year.