'Healthy' deficit to support spending — Finance chief

The budget deficit as of May remains contained and a long way from the year-end ceiling, allowing further government spending in the coming months to support growth, the Department of Finance said Thursday.

 

“The cash operations report so far shows that we continue to be well within our deficit ceilings despite the healthy pace of our expenditures program,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said in a statement.

 

“Our strong collection performance provides plenty of room for further expansion of our priority programs...  The National Government still has room to spend for growth,” he added.  

 

A P13.164 billion deficit was registered in May, bringing the budget gap to P42.839 billion in the first five months. 

 

The government has a budget deficit target of P238 billion pesos, or 2 percent of GDP this year.

 

In May, revenues totaled P154.039 billion against expenditures of P167.203 billion. From January to May, aggregate revenues amounted to P708.374 billion which financed the bulk of the P751.213 billion in expenditures.

 

Net of interest payments, the government was operating under a primary surplus of P95.9 billion as of May.

 

The fiscal report came after National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon on Wednesday bared before financial executives “preliminary” deficit data as of May. 

 

Revenue numbers in May grew by 17 percent, driven mainly by higher collections from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and dividends remitted to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr).

 

In a telephone interview Thursday, BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares said “higher revenues were due to intensified collections.” 

 

She, however, said more work needs to be done as the government continues to strengthen its fiscal position. “Marami pang gagawin at hahabulin,” Henares said. 

 

In May, BTr had an income of P9.4 billion, up 87 percent year-on-year. BIR was able to collect P111.9 billion, up by 18 percent. 

 

Revenues from Bureau of Customs and other government agencies totaled P25.9 billion and P6.8 billion, respectively, both up by 3 percent. 

 

“Our resilient revenues have given us space for liability management activities in these volatile economic conditions. We are closely monitoring market developments for opportunities to further strengthen our fiscal position,” the Finance chief said. — VS, GMA News