PH posts P22-B budget surplus in August

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government spent less than it earned in August.

According to the Department of Finance (DOF) release on Tuesday, October 8, the government posted a P21.9-billion budget surplus in August as spending slowed down.

The government collected P155 billion during the month and spent only P133 billion.

The fiscal surplus was “more than 8 times the surplus of P2.5 billion achieved in August 2012,” the DOF said.

“The above-target surplus is highly encouraging given that the government came very close to hitting its spending target in August,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said.

The August figure brought the fiscal deficit for the first 8 months of 2013 to P82.6 billion. In the first 7 months, the government incurred a deficit of P104.5 billion. 

Revenues

Revenue collections in August reached P155.1 billion, 20% or P25.7 billion higher than the previous year’s level. Below is the breakdown:

• P118.1 billion – Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), up 22%
• P26.1 billion – Bureau of Customs (BoC), up 15% 
• P7.5 billion – Other offices, up 7% 
• P3.4 billion – Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), up 15%

These brought the total January-to-August collections to P1.139 trillion, broken down as follows:

• P811.9 billion – BIR, up 16%
• P198.9 billion – BOC, up 4%
• P60.9 billion – BTr
• P67.5 billion – other offices 

Expenditures

Actual disbursements in August amounted to P133.2 billion, up by P6.4 billion or 5% and below the P138.4-billion target for the month.

Interest payments amounting to P18.2 billion accounted for 14% of the total expenditures.

Total disbursements for January to August reached P1.22 trillion billion, about P137.1 billion or 13% higher than expenditures in 2012. – Rappler.com