Bureau of the Treasury: Gov’t posts P86.9-B budget surplus in April

The national government posted a budget surplus of P86.9 billion in April as spending declined due to the four-month delay in the passage of the 2019 budget, the Bureau of the Treasury said Friday.

The Treasury said the fiscal surplus recorded last month is higher by 87.6% or P40.6 billion compared to last year's P46.3 billion.

This as government spending for the month contracted by 15.1%, while revenues increased by P1.1 billion.

April's surplus slashed the year-to-date budget gap tp P3.4 billion, a far cry from the P105.9-billion deficit recorded in the same period last year.

Government expenditures in April dipped to P221.8 billion, down 15.1% from P261.2 billion.

"Part of the slower spending was still due to the four-month delay in the passage of the 2019 National budget which constrained the government in implementing new programs and projects," the Treasury said.

With the budget impasse, total government spending for the January to April period amounted to P999.8 billion, down 3% year-on-year.

Interest payment stood at P23.5 billion, up 1.6% due to coupon payment for Treasury bonds issued last year.

Cumulatively, interest payments grew 9.1% to P131.3 billion, accounting for 13.1% of expenditures and 13.2% of revenues from last year's 11.6% and 13%, respectively.

Government revenues, on the other hand, amounted to P308.7 billion, up by just P1.1 billion compared to last years’ collection.

The aggregate revenues for the first four months of the year totaled P996.4 billion, up 7.4% from a year earlier.

Tax collections contributed 90.8% of the total, while the remaining 9.2% was generated from non-tax sources.

BIR, BOC

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) attained a 1.2% modest increase in its April collections which reached P235.5 billion.

BIR’s year-to-date revenues to P703.7 billion, up 7.3% from P655.7 billion last year.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) collected P51.7 billion for the month, up 10.4% year-on-year.

"The agency’s strong performance for the period was attributed to its stringent monitoring and continuing efforts to enhance revenue-collection capabilities and intensified control measures against undervaluation, misdeclaration and other forms of technical smuggling," the Treasury said.

Cumulatively, BOC’s revenues grew 9.6% to P193.5 billion.

Income generated by the Treasury declined 26.5% to P10.5 billion resulting mainly from lower collections of dividends on shares of stocks held by the government.

Nevertheless, the Treasury said its cumulative revenues still managed to grow by 11.6% from last year to P41.3 billion on account of higher interest income from national government deposits and the Bond Sinking Fund, and national government's share from PAGCOR income.

Collections from other offices or non-tax revenues amounted to P9.3 billion, down 24.7% or P3.1 billion.

Year-to-date non-tax revenues of P50.4 billion also dropped by P400 million against the P50.8 billion posted in the same period in 2018. — RSJ, GMA News