MANILA, Philippines – The government posted a budget surplus in April due to annual tax payments during the review period, the Bureau of the Treasury reported yesterday.
The surplus – which indicates government earned more than it spent – amounted to P55 billion in April, five percent higher than last year’s level.
This trimmed the budget gap for the first four months to P69.8 billion.
“Consistently solid fiscal performance has put the country on the firmest fiscal footing in history,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said in a statement.
“I am highly confident that the next administration has what it takes to improve and build on our gains moving forward,” he added.
Revenues reached P246.6 billion in April, up 18 percent which was the fastest since May last year’s 40-percent increase.
Expenditures, meanwhile, rose by a double-digit rate of 22 percent to P191.6 billion.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which collects income taxes, led revenue gains by raising P177.7 billion, up by a tenth year-on-year. It missed its P222.09-billion goal.
On the other hand, the Bureau of Customs, with recovering oil prices, increased its take 16 percent to P32.7 billion in April.
BIR and Customs, which collectively account for 90 percent of state revenues, boosted their collections nine and two percent, respectively, in the first four months.
On the spending side, data showed agency spending rose 26 percent in April to P176.8 billion, while interest payments declined six percent to P14.8 billion.
“We can see that there will be enough money for the next administration for the second half unlike in 2010,” said Victor Abola, economist at University of Asia and the Pacific.
A spending slowdown is possible by then, he said, which he clarified is usual for every transitioning government,
While Abola welcomed plans to widen the deficit to three percent of gross domestic product (GDP), he cautioned the next government against “unnecessary spending.”
“That’s the plan, but whether it’s going to happen is another because there are really absorptive capacity issues for agencies,” he said in a phone interview.
“We can stretch it as much as we want, but we may fall into the trap of unnecessary spending. We should still keep the discipline,” he added.