PHL posts P9.6-B deficit in May – Finance Dept.

Following the administration's move to step up spending in the second quarter of the year, the government's fiscal position reverted to a deficit that widened to P9.601 billion in May, the Finance Department reported on Wednesday. The May deficit reversed the P26.258 billion surplus posted in April, but is still narrower than the P30.257 billion deficit recorded in the same period last year. Despite this, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima maintained that the government is on track to meet its programmed budget gap of roughly P290 billion for the year, or 3.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). In 2010, the budget gap hit P314.4 billion, or 3.7 percent of GDP. The finance department's belated report — usually released every 17th of the month but was only made public today — said that revenue collections for May reached P120.088 billion, or 9.45 percent higher year-on-year. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) was able to collect some P88.150 billion during the period, while the Bureau of Customs (BOC) was able to post collections of P21.836 billion. Income from the Bureau of the Treasury and collections from other offices, meanwhile, reached P3.971 billion and P6.131 billion, respectively. Actual disbursements in May amounted to P129.689 billion, producing a budget deficit of P9.601 for the period. This figure brought the January to May fiscal deficit to P9.540 billion, or 94 percent lower than the figure recorded in the same period last year. Revenue collections in the first five months reached P581.501 billion, P391.092 billion of which came from the BIR while P106.894 billion were collected by the BOC. Expenditures in the same five-month period amounted to P591.041 billion or 10.73 percent lower year-on-year. Underspending by the government in the first quarter weighed on the gross domestic product for the period, slowing it down to 4.9 percent from 7.3 percent a year earlier. This prompted the Department of Budget and Management to release more than P1 trillion in allocations to accelerate spending in the next quarter. —JMT/VS, GMA News