January budget balance swings to P68.4-B surplus

THE government's budget balance returned to a surplus in January, the Bureau of the Treasury reported on Tuesday, as strong revenue growth made up for increased spending.

The P68.4-billion surplus — from revenues of P467.1 billion and expenditures of P398.8 billion — was a turnabout from December's P329.5-billion shortfall.

It was, however, lower than the year-earlier surplus of P88.0 billion.

January revenues were up 10.75 percent from the year-earlier P421.8 billion due to higher tax collections. Taxes accounted for 93.66 percent (P437.5 billion) of total collections, with the remaining 6.34 percent (P29.6 billion) from non-tax sources.

Spending, meanwhile, was 19.45 percent higher than the year ago P333.9 billion due to, among others, progress billings for infrastructure projects and preparations for the upcoming midterm elections.

Of the total tax revenues, the Bureau of Internal Revenue accounted for the bulk at P355.1 billion, 15.13 percent higher than the P308.4 billion recorded in the same month last year.

The Treasury attributed the increase to an 18.62-percent increase in value-added tax (VAT), income tax (14.23 percent or P18.1 billion), other tax (22.20 percent or P3.7 billion), and percentage tax (11.88 percent or P3.4 billion) collections.

"The growth is also attributed to the Bureau's intensified collection efforts, aggressive illicit trade campaigns, and digital transformation projects," it said.

The Bureau of Customs, meanwhile, saw January collections rise by 7.98 percent to P79.3 billion on the back of an ongoing modernization program.

The tax take from other offices, however, declined to P3.2 billion from P3.3 billion a year earlier.

As for nontax revenues, Treasury collections dropped to P15.7 billion from P16.7 billion. Despite this, the bureau said that collections remained "relatively strong" as they accounted for 53.17 percent or P15.7 billion of total non-tax revenues.

Other offices generated nontax revenues of P13.9 billion in January, down from P19.9 billion a year ago.

As for spending, January's nearly 20-percent rise was said to have been the result of disbursements for progress billings of completed infrastructure and other capital outlay projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways, implementation of various health and social protection programs, as well as expenses of the Commission on Elections in preparation for the May elections.

"Higher national tax allotment releases and subsidies to government corporations also contributed to the significant growth of disbursements in January," the Treasury added.

Primary expenditures accounted for P294.4 billion of January's spending, up from P259.6 billion a year earlier.

Interest payments, which accounted for the rest of expenditures, rose to P104.4 billion from P74.2 billion.

Excluding interest payments, the national government recorded a primary surplus of P172.8 billion for January, a 6.55-percent year-on-year increase from P162.2 billion.