Year-to-date deficit within target at P112.5 B

The National Government’s budget deficit for the month of October stands at P11.2 billion, well within the P152.7 billion government program for the period, bringing the total January to October deficit to P112.5 billion. Netting out interest payments, NG achieved a P9.2 billion primary surplus for October 2013, bringing the year-to-date primary surplus to P166.1 billion and exceeding the P132.3 billion target for the period.

Primary surplus shows that the fundamental operations of our government remain supported by our strong revenue collections. The commitment to efficient budget disbursement has not compromised our fiscal health.

For October alone, revenues totaled P134.32 billion against expenditures of P145.5 billion. From January to October, aggregate revenues summed up to P1,400.9 billion, financing P1,513.3 billion in expenditures.

Revenues

Total revenue as of end-October amounted to P1,400.9 billion, reflecting a 12% or P147.6 billion improvement over comparable collections last year. BIR was able to collect P95.6 billion in October, increasing collections by 11% year-on-year while BOC collections that amounted to P27.9 billion, growing 3% year-on-year. BTr and other government offices contributed P3.6 billion and P7.3 billion, respectively.

On a year-to-date basis, BIR and BOC collections of P993.5 billion and P252.5 billion have grown 16% and 5% compared to collections in the same period last year, respectively. On the other hand, BTr (P71.7 billion) and other offices (P83.1 billion) have exceeded revenue targets for January to October of 2013 by 46% and 5%, respectively.

Expenditures

National Government expenditures amounted to P145.5 billion for October, bringing the January-October level to P1,513.3 billion, an 11% (P144.5 billion) increase over the same period in 2012.

October interest payments totaled P20.5 billion. This amount is 4% lower than last year’s payment as a result of net redemption of 10-year fixed rate treasury bonds amounting to P2.2 billion for the period. Total interest payments for the first ten months of the year totaled P278.6 billion, remaining below the P285 billion target, bringing January to October interest savings to P6.4 billion. As a percentage of expenditures, January-October interest payments continued to show improvements as it narrowed to 18% of disbursements from 19% last year.

“Additionally, tax collections on cigarette and alcohol products grew by 63.9% in the first three quarters of 2013, tallying at P63.6B, a large increase from the P38.8B collected in the same period last year. The first three quarters already account for 73% of the total projected excise tax collections for 2013. P34.0B of that revenue is attributable to the incremental revenues from RA 10351 or the Sin Tax Law enacted on December 20, 2012,” said Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.