Govt posts P9.22-B surplus in August – Finance Dept.

Despite a slight increase in spending, the national government was able to record a surplus of P9.220 billion last August on higher revenue collections, Finance officials said Thursday. The August surplus was 599 percent higher than the P1.1319 billion surplus recorded in the same period last year, according to the Department of Finance. This brings the January to August budget deficit to only P34.493 billion, from the P228.104 billion gap recorded in August 2010. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said higher collections from government's top revenue sources boosted the month's surplus, trimming the year-to-date deficit to just P34.493 billion or 84.88 percent lower year-on-year. Revenues during the month reached P124.148 billion or 15.16 percent more than the P107.806 billion recorded in the same period last year. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs increased their collections during by 11.7 percent and 24.72 percent, respectively, Purisima said. In the first eight months of the year, the BIR collected P619.713 billion, while the BOC raised as much as P171.992 billion, or 13.42 percent and 0.74 percent higher, respectively, than year-ago figures. Expenditures during the period, meanwhile, escalated by 15.16 percent to P114.928 billion, but expenditures in the eight-month period dropped to P947.244 billion, or 8.12 percent lower than the P1.030 released during the same time last year. Purisima said they would continue striving for higher collection revenues in the remaining months of the year in order to support government expenditures. "Rest assured that we would continue on improving our tax administration in a bid to scoop in more revenues for public spending," Purisima said. The BIR is tasked to collect P940 billion this year while the BOC has a revenue goal of P320 billion. The government hopes to contain this year’s budget deficit ceiling at roughly P300 billion or 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). — JMT/VS, GMA News