Budget deficit narrowed in November this year despite the government’s double-digit growth in expenditures, the Department of Finance (DOF) announced on Wednesday, Dec. 21.
Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the national government incurred a P123.9 billion budget deficit last month, down four percent compared with P128.7 billion in the same month last year.
Based on the data sent by Diokno told reporters, revenues increased 16.5 precent to P331.1 billion from P284 billion a year earlier. Of that amount, tax collections hit P312.9 billion, while non-tax revenues reached P18.2 billion.
In November, the Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P237.1 billion, up 12 percent from P210.7 billion. The Bureau of Customs, on the other hand, raised P75.7 billion from P57.9 billion last year.
Meanwhile, public spending increased 10 percent to P455 billion from P412.7 billion a year ago. Of that amount, interest payments cornered P26.1 billion, down 16 percent year-on-year from P31.2 billion.
The government posted a primary deficit of P97.8 billion in November, slightly lower compared with P97.5 billion in the same month last year.
The November budget gap brought the government’s fiscal deficit to P1.236 trillion in the first 11-months of the year. This was seven percent lower than last year’s P1.332 trillion tally.
Diokno said the end-November deficit was equivalent to 75 percent of the Marcos administration’s full-year ceiling of 1.7 trillion.
From January to November, revenues climbed to P3.28 trillion, up 18.1 percent P2.774 trillion in the same period last year.
According to Diokno, the total revenue haul at end-November was 99 percent of the government’s P3.3 trillion goal for 2022.
Tax revenues was up from P2.519 trillion to P2.960 trillion, or by 17 percent. Meanwhile, non-tax revenues rose from P255 billion to P317.7 billion, or 24.6 percent.
Meanwhile, national government expenditures reached P4.513 trillion at end-November, which was about 91 percent of the P5 trillion full-year program, and was 9.9 percent higher than the previous year's total of P4.106 trillion.
Earlier, Diokno said the budget deficit this year may fall below ceiling due to higher than expected revenue collections of its two main tax agencies.
He said the the fiscal deficit as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) had settled at only 6.5 percent in the first nine-months of the year, way below the 7.6 percent full-year program
“The government has ramped up efforts to maintain fiscal discipline through its revenue agencies, which have surpassed their programmed collections for 2022,” Diokno said.