The national government, during President Marcos’ first month in office, incurred a much lower budget deficit owing to strong tax collections and slower spending, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.

The Treasury bureau reported on Friday, Aug. 26, that the Marcos administration’s fiscal deficit declined 28 percent in July to P86.8 billion from P121.1 billion in the same month last year.

The drop in the government’s financing gap was due to higher revenues, increasing by P52.6 billion year-on-year. This outpaced expenditure growth, which improved by P18.1 billion.

According to the Treasury, tax and non-tax revenues jumped 20 percent in July to P308.6 billion from P256.1 billion.

Of that amount, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P197.4 billion, while the Bureau of Customs brought in P83.6 billion. Other offices raised P14.2 billion.

Meanwhile, government expenditures inched up by only five percent in July from P377.3 billion a year earlier to P395.4 billion. Of amount, interest payments reached P52.1 billion.

The July budget deficit brought the national government’s seven month tally to P761 billion, lower by nine percent compared with P827.3 billion in the same period last year.

At the Development Budget Coordination Committee briefing with the House Appropriations Committee, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the end-July fiscal gap was 26 percent below the P1.036 billion ceiling for period.

Moreover, Diokno said the government’s seven-month budget deficit was equivalent to only 46.1 percent of the Marcos administration’s full-year program of P1.65 trillion.

From January to July, the national government’s total revenues hit P2.036 trillion, an increase of 16 percent from P1.746 trillion.

The BIR, which contributes about two-thirds to government coffers, collected P1.32 trillion at end-July, up 10 percent compared with P1.202 trillion.

“BIR’s higher uptake is attributable to its continued strict enforcement, as well as the implementation of its digitization program,” the Treasury said.

On the other hand, the Customs bureau registered a 34 percent growth in tax collections to P480.3 billion from P358.9 billion in the previous year.

“Collections by the Bureau of Customs reached an all-time high... the robust performance was credited to improved valuation, digitized and modernized systems, and the gradual reopening of the economy which resulted in higher import volume,” the Treasury said.

Meanwhile, the seven-month expenditures of the national government amounted to P2.797 trillion, an improvement of only eight percent compared with P2.584 trillion in the same period last year.

The government registered a primary deficit of P451.7 billion from January to July, a decline of 21 percent from P569.7 billion.