The national government incurred a budget deficit of P273.3 billion in September 2024, up by 8.9 percent from the P250.9-billion shortfall recorded a year earlier, the Bureau of the Treasury said Thursday.
It said government expenditures grew 13.15 percent in September to P572.9 billion from a year ago, while revenue collection climbed 17.32 percent to P299.7 billion.
Budget deficit in the first nine months narrowed by 1.35 percent, or P13.3 billion, to P970.2 billion. This was 9.08 percent below the P1.1-trillion target for the nine-month period and accounted for 65.36 percent of the revised full-year target of P1.5 trillion.
Nine-month revenue collection rose 16.04 percent to P3.3 trillion from a year earlier and exceeded the program by 4.53 percent.
Taxes comprised 85.39 or P2.8 trillion of the nine-month collection, which grew 10.62 percent from a year earlier. The remaining 14.61 percent or P481.1 billion came from non-tax revenues, which increased by 62.54 percent year-on-year.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) collection amounted to P174.7 billion in September, up by 14.79 percent from a year ago.
“This is attributed to higher personal income tax [PIT] particularly on withholding on wages due to the release of salary differentials of civilian government personnel pursuant to Executive Order No. 64, series of 2024, which updated from the Salary Standardization Law of 2019. This is followed by higher collections from documentary stamp tax,” the BTr said.
This pushed the BIR’s nine-month collection to P2.1 trillion, up by 12.73 percent year-on-year and just below the target by 0.98 percent.
Meanwhile, collection by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) slid by 3.31 percent to P76.3 billion in September, on double-digit contraction in import duties partly due to tariff reduction of some commodities.
“Also, the decline is due to an alarming increase in smuggling activities within the year, as the current amount of the BOCs’ seized goods already surpassed their total haul in 2023,” the BTr said.
The BOCs’ cumulative revenue of P690.7 billion in nine months outperformed the P660.4 billion collected in the same period last year and was 0.46 percent short of the P693.9-billion goal for the period.
Non-tax revenues surged to P46.2 billion in September, or more than twice the level attained a year ago primarily due to the one-off windfall from the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) concession agreement.
Government expenditures in September grew 13.15 percent to P572.9 billion from P506.3 billion a year ago. Interest payments (IP) amounted to P73.9 billion, up by 3.36 percent year-on-year.
“The increase was mainly from the servicing of new external loans availed from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations,” the BTr said.
