The national government’s budget deficit saw a 15.6-percent increase in June 2025 to P241.6 billion from P209.1 billion a year ago, the Bureau of the Treasury said Thursday.
It said this brought the first-half budget shortfall to P765.5 billion, up by 24.69 percent from P613.9 billion in the same period last year.
Despite the higher deficit, the BTr said the government’s fiscal performance in the first half of 2025 remained broadly on track due to sustained double-digit growth of tax revenues, pushing total revenue collections to P2.260 trillion, or or 5.15 percent higher year-on-year (YoY).
The six-month deficit remained relatively within the target of P765.5 billion, a 0.63-percent above the program despite accelerated and higher public spending to support economic growth.
Total revenue collections in June reached P306.9 billion, up by 3.50 percent from last year’s level, as the sustained double-digit growth in tax collections offset the high base effect of the one-off remittances under non-tax revenues last year.
Six-month collection also rose 5.15 percent to P2.260 trillion from a year earlier.
Tax revenues comprised 89.93 percent of the total first-semester collection and surpassed the previous year’s figure by 10.74 percent.
Meanwhile, the remaining 10.07 percent came from non-tax sources, which outperformed the P221.4 billion program for the period by 2.87 percent even as the figure was tempered by the absence of extraordinary receipts recorded last year.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) posted a robust 16.24 percent increase in June, collecting P200.5 billion after netting P1.6 billion in tax refunds.
This marked the bureau’s sixth consecutive month of posting double-digit growth.
BIR collections in the first half reached P1.554 trillion, up by 14.11 percent from a year ago, driven by increases in corporate income tax (CIT), value-added tax (VAT) and personal income tax (PIT).
Additional sources of higher revenue came from increased excise tax collections on tobacco, including electronic cigarettes, through the bureau’s continued efforts to intensify the crackdown on the illicit tobacco trade1 and the strict implementation of the mandatory excise tax stamps on vapor products. Higher percentage tax collections from banks and financial institutions also contributed to the strong performance.
The Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) collection increased 3.23 percent to P77.0 billion in June from last year’s P74.6 billion. BOCs’ resulting six-month collection of P458.8 billion topped the previous year’s performance by 0.71 percent.
The Treasury income rose to P6.1 billion in June, more than double last year’s P7.4 billion, behind higher national government share in PAGCOR profits and PSALM’s dividend remittance.
Government expenditures reached P548.5 billion in June, an 8.49 percent increase from a yeatr ago. The growth of spending was primarily driven by the higher national tax allotment shares of LGUs, the annual block grant to the BARMM, personnel services, and interest payments (IP).
For the first half of the year, disbursements hit P3.026 trillion, a 9.49-percent growth from last year’s figure.
