Government's budget surplus nearly doubles in January
At A Glance
- National government posted a budget surplus of P88 billion in January 2024.<br>Revenue collection increased by 21.15 percent year-over-year, outpacing the 10.39 percent growth in government spending.<br>Total revenue rose to P421.8 billion, with tax collections accounting for 91.31 percent of the total.<br>Bureau of Internal Revenue generated P308.4 billion in revenue, driven by a shift in VAT remittance.<br>Bureau of Customs collected P73.4 billion, reflecting improvements in customs valuation and trade facilitation.<br>Bureau of the Treasury income declined to P16.7 billion due to lower interest income but offset by higher share from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.'s income.<br>Total expenditures for January reached P333.9 billion, with primary expenditures accounting for 77.77 percent.<br>Interest payments rose to P74.2 billion, driven by premia from Treasury Bonds and Global Bonds issuance.<br>Excluding interest payments, government recorded a primary surplus of P162.2 billion in January 2024, growing by 74.91 percent year-over-year.
The Marcos administration's budget surplus nearly doubled in the first month of the year due to strong revenues generated by the government's two main tax agencies.
The Bureau of the Treasury reported that the national government posted a fiscal surplus of P88 billion last January, a significant jump of 92 percent compared to P45.7 billion in the same month in 2023.
“The fiscal outturn was brought about by a faster 21.15 percent year-over-year increase in revenue collection outpacing the 10.39 percent expansion in government spending,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Total revenues rose to P421.8 billion from P348.2 billion last year, driven by higher tax collections which comprised 91.31 percent of the total.
Meanwhile, the remaining 8.69 percent was generated through non-tax sources which declined by 8.7 percent year-on-year.
The bulk of collections came from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which raised P308.4 billion, or 31 percent higher compared to P234.8 billion in the same month a year ago.
“The improvement for the period was largely driven by the shift in VAT [value added tax] remittance from monthly to quarterly, pushing the crediting of fourth-quarter 2023 collections over to January 2024,” the Treasury said.
Similarly, the Bureau of Customs’ P73.4 billion take for the first month of the year exceeded the previous year’s outturn of P70.6 billion by four percent
“The increase can be attributed to the agency’s improved system of determining the customs value of imported goods, strengthened border protection, and concrete trade facilitation efforts,” the Treasury said.
Meanwhile, the Treasury income declined from P17.8 billion last year to P16.7 billion in January due to lower income from interest on deposits and investments.
“However, this was partially offset by the higher NG share from PAGCOR [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.] income,” the bureau said.
On the other hand, government expenditures sped up to P333.9 billion, 10 percent higher relative to last year’s spending of P302.4 billion.
Primary expenditures which accounted for 77.77 percent of the total inched up to P259.6 billion from P255.4 billion posted a year ago.
Meanwhile, interest payments (IP), which accounted for the remaining 22.23 percent, rose to P74.2 billion.
“The 58.02 percent or P27.3 billion year-on-year increment in IP was due to the net effect of premia from last year’s reissuance of Treasury Bonds and from Global Bonds issued in the same period,” the Treasury said.
As a percentage of revenue and expenditures, IP for January increased to 17.6 percent and 22.23 percent compared to previous year levels of 13.49 percent and 15.53 percent, respectively.
Excluding interest payments, the government recorded a P162.2 billion primary surplus for January, growing by 75 percent due to the higher revenue outturn for the period.