PNoy admin posts P10.65-B budget surplus in February

The Aquino administration registered a P10.655-billion budget surplus in February, helped by higher revenues, Department of Finance data released Tuesday showed.

 

The February surplus reversed the P21.490-billion deficit recorded a year earlier, and shaved the deficit in the first two months to P5.288 billion from P8.066 billion year-on-year.

 

Revenues in February totaled P119.189 billion, up 49 percent higher from P80.015 billion, while expenditures accelerated to P108.534 billion or 6.9 percent over P101.505 billion year-on-year.

 

Revenues in the first two months amounted to P245.543 billion and disbursements totaled P250.831 billion.

 

Government agencies achieved significant growth rates in February as tax administration efforts continue to boost revenue collections, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said in a statement.

 

 The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), led the gains, increasing its collections by 28.6 percent, Purisima said.

 

“This was the highest monthly year-on-year growth in two decades without new tax measures,” Purisima said.

 

The BIR collected P68.694 billion in February from P53.418 billion.

 

BIR collections rose by 20 percent to P153.841 billion in the first two months.

 

The Bureau of Customs also increased its collections by 20 percent to P22.433 billion from P18.583 billion. Its collections in the first two months reached P44.423 billion, up 13.6 percent from P39 billion.

 

Remittances by government-owned and –controlled corporations boosted the collections of the Bureau of the Treasury by more than 600 percent to P31.187 billion in the first two months, Finance Department data showed.

 

“We are committed to further improve government's balance sheet to attain investment grade rating and lower borrowings costs, while at the same time boosting investments in social and economic services to improve productivity and economic growth,” said Purisima. —VS, GMA News