January to November Fiscal Deficit at P26.8 billion

29 December 2014 Manila, Philippines – The National Government (NG) achieved a P6.8 billion fiscal surplus in November despite revenues contracting 4% year-on-year as expenditures similarly slid by 8% for the period. The recorded surplus for November is higher than the P1.0 billion surplus from last year narrowing the year-to-date deficit to P26.8 billion for 2014, 76% lower than the 2013 level.

Net of Interest payments, NG registered a primary surplus of P24.9 billion, higher than the P19.1 billion in November 2013. Similarly, Jan-Nov 2014 primary surplus of P265.5 billion is 43% higher than the previous year’s.

Revenue Performance

Total revenue collection for the month amounted to P158.2 billion, 4% short of the take for the same month last year. Collections set aside for tax refunds reduced the revenue performance of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) by P9.0 billion and P6.5 billion, respectively. This caused the first year-on-year contraction in monthly collections of both Bureaus in 2014. Year-to-date revenue now stands at P1.7 trillion, 11% better than the amount recorded over the same period in the previous year.

Year-on-year, BIR collections fell by 4% in November, totaling P121.9 billion. In total, BIR collections as of end-November amounted to P1.2 trillion, up by 9% from the same period last year.

Similarly, the BOC was not able to sustain its monthly double-digit growth, as actual collections decline by 13%, year-on-year. Despite this, year-to-date BOC revenue performance has improved by 16% year-on-year, registering at P324.6 billion.

Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) total Income amounted to P3.4 billion, contracting 10% year-on-year. However, year-to-date cumulative collections is up 20% to P90.5 billion, outperforming the P56.2 billion target for the whole year.

Collections from other offices posted significant year-on-year growth of 27%, amounting to P8.2 billion for the month. Year-to-date revenue of P100.2 billion indicates a 12% improvement in collections over the same period in 2013.

Expenditures

Total disbursements in November amounted to P151.4 billion, declining 8% from a year ago. Nevertheless, year-to-date expenditures of P1.8 trillion is still up 5% or P 84.9 billion higher than similar spending for 2013.

Monthly interest payments (IP) reached P18.1 billion, maintaining its level from a year ago. As a percentage of expenditures, IP for the month reached 12%, 1 percentage point higher from a year ago due to higher foreign IP. However, year-to-date figures still indicate a 1 percentage point decrease to 17% compared to the same period in 2013.