The government said Thursday it incurred a budget deficit of P21.8 billion in October, up from the P2.3-billion shortfall recorded a year ago, as spending growth outpaced the increase in revenue collections, the Bureau of the Treasury said Thursday.
This brought the 10-month fiscal deficit to P234.9 billion, up 9 percent or P18.8 billion from the same period in 2016. The figure represented 49 percent of the full year deficit target of P482.1 billion.
Data showed that government disbursements jumped 28 percent in October to P226.9 billion, the highest growth in spending this year. Total expenditures in the first 10 months also went up 10 percent to P2.241 trillion.
Revenue collection rose 17 percent in October to P205.1 billion, supported by the double-digit increases in the contributions from Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Treasury.
Collections in January to October also went up 10 percent to P2.006 trillion from the same period last year.
BIR collections climbed 17 percent in October to P142.5 billion. “This marks the sixth time the Bureau was able to post double digit year-on-year growth for the year. Total BIR collections as of end-October amounted to P1.441.7 trillion, up by 11 percent over the same period last year,” the Treasury said.
The Bureau of Customs saw collections surge 29 percent in October to P42.9 billion. This brought total collections by the bureau in the first 10 months to P366.7 billion, up by 14 percent from the previous year.
Meanwhile, Treasury income amounted to P7.6 billion in October, up by 56 percent from the previous year.
Debt interest payments in October increased 27 percent year-on-year to P20.4 billion. Despite this, total interest payments in the first 10 months increased by only 1 percent to P269.4 billion.
“Netting out the interest payments from the expenditures, the national government recorded a P1.4 billion primary deficit for October, from a primary surplus of P13.7 billion recorded in the same period last year. The year-to-date primary balance is still at a surplus of P34.5 billion, however, this reflects a contraction of 31 percent equivalent to P15.2 billion from the 2016 level,” the Treasury said.
Real GDP grew by 6.9 percent in the third quarter of the year, on strong exports and higher public spending.