PHL contains deficit to within target as of October

Better revenue collections and prudent spending helped the government contain the budget deficit to P10.5 billion in October, officials said in a press conference Tuesday. The fiscal performance for that month helped narrow the 10-month budget shortfall by P22.5 billion from the P292.8 billion on the government’s program. The deficit in October was slimmer by P8.6 billion than the P19.1 billion programmed for the month, said Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima. “The national government posted a deficit of P10.5 billion in October, significantly lower than the programmed P19.1 billion for the month as revenue collections increased by 15.1 percent year-on-year," Purisima stressed. Data released by the government showed revenues reached P91.3 billion in October, while expenditures totaled P109 billion. Purisima said expenditures last month declined by 4.5 percent to P109 billion from P114.1 billion in the same month last year on lower operating expenses and lower interest payments. For the first 10 months of the year, the finance chief reported that the deficit totaled P270.3 billion or P22.5 billion slimmer than the programmed P292.8 billion for January-October. It was “well within the full year target of P325 billion," Purisima said. Government revenues totaled P993.2 billion in the first 10 months, while expenditures went up amounted to P1.263 trillion. “We are confident that given our strong commitment to improve revenue collections and manage expenditures prudently, while at the same time working on expanding the tax base, we will achieve the full year deficit level of P325 billion," Purisima said. Budget Secretary Florencio Abad echoed the same sentiment. “We’re also improving the quality of our spending, in line with the Aquino government’s platform of making each and every government peso count," Abad told reporters. The government now continues to exercise judicious expenditure management, as shown by the disbursement performance as of October, which was P70.1 billion or 5.3 percent below the P1.3336-trillion programmed expenditure for the period. “We have consistently spent below target in the past four months, and that is way better than the leakage-laden overspending regime that we have had in the past," the budget chief said. He reiterated that the Aquino administration inherited about 60 percent of the total deficit from the administration of former President and now Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. “With this, we can confidently say not only that we will achieve our year-end deficit target, keeping in mind that the Aquino administration inherited a huge deficit equivalent to 60 percent of total deficit targeted for the year when it took over in July 1," Abad said. — VS, GMANews.TV