“I am pleased to report that the National Government has posted a budget surplus of P29.9 billion in August, wider than the year-ago surplus, once again resulting from fast-paced expansion of revenue collections for the month. This brought the year-to-date budget balance to a deficit of P25.9 billion, well-within the program and narrower than comparable figures a year ago,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said.
The primary balance in August was at a surplus of P50.5 billion, wider than comparable figures last year. As of end-August 2014, the primary surplus was at P202.7 billion, also wider than the year-ago level of P146.3 billion.
“I would also like to point out that our General Government debt has continued to show improvement – as of March 2014, General Government debt was recorded at P4.49 trillion or 38.1% of GDP, lower than the March 2013 level of 38.5%. We have lessened our exposure to foreign currency risk by reducing the foreign component of the debt to 42.1% from 43.4% as of March last year.”
He added: “This latest report on another month of sound fiscal performance follows President Aquino’s successful whirlwind tour in Europe. The trip has borne fruit to more agreement deals under our PPP program, which already boasts of around fifty projects in its pipeline. As we sustain our robust fiscal position, I am confident that we will be drawing in even more interest, from local and foreign investors alike, in our PPP projects.”
BOC registers eighth straight month of double-digit growth; BTr exceeds target
Total revenues reached P170.0 billion in August, an improvement of 9.6% from collections in August last year. This brought year-to-date revenues to P1.27 trillion, up 11.5% year-on-year.
Collections of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) totaled P29.1 billion for the month, growing 11.4% from last year’s tally and marking the eighth straight month of above ten percent year-on-year growth. Year-to-date, the BOC’s take amounted to P232.9 billion, rising 17.1% from January-August collections in 2013.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collections increased by 8.0% to reach P127.6 billion in August. This brought year-to-date BIR collections to P890.7 billion, up 9.7% year-on-year.
The Bureau of Treasury (BTr) has exceeded its target for the month, raking in P5.3 billion due to higher investment income and dividend collections. As of end-August, the BTr’s collections have totaled P75.7 billion, a growth of 24.3% over comparable figures last year.
Interest payments to revenues down to 18.0%
National Government expenditures for the month amounted to P140.1 billion, higher than last year’s spending in August by 5.2%. For the first eight months of the year, National Government spending grew by 6.1% to P1.30 trillion.
Improved revenue collection and proactive liability management continues to allow us to service debt obligations efficiently. As of end-August 2014, interest payments were at P228.6 billion, below the program for the period.
For the first eight months of the year, interest payments’ share to revenues has dropped to 18.0% from 20.1% last year. Likewise, interest payments as a percentage of expenditures dipped to 17.6% from 18.7% last year.
Decongesting ports crucial to raising tax effort
“The government has been determined in mapping out a solution to port congestion in Manila to further augment growth of the Philippine economy. The Department of Finance Chief Economist Gil Beltran states that if port congestion is solved and delayed shipments are out of our ports within this year, our annual tax collection can increase by as much as an estimated 7% or 0.2 percentage points of GDP,” noted the finance chief.
