The government incurred a budget deficit in September, but fund disbursement still fell below the program, data released by the Bureau of Treasury showed.
From January to September, the government reached a budget shortfall of P52.99 billion, way lower than the P234.35-billion ceiling set for the first three quarters of the year.
For September alone, the government registered an P18.5-billion shortfall; the previous year’s deficit was P31.68 billion.
Revenues improved for the period compared with last year’s performance, thanks to the year-on-year collection growth of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC), which collectively account for about 90 percent of the government’s cash flow.
Revenues for the nine-month period already breached the P1-trillion mark at P1.01 trillion, compared with last year’s P894.71 billion.
The BIR collected P686.26 billion, or 13 percent more than the previous year’s performance, while the BOC’s collection reached P194.6 billion, slightly higher than P190.95-billion revenues collected during the same
period in 2010. Both the BIR and the BOC, however, were short of their targets by P7.89 billion and P35.01 billion, respectively.
“For the month of September, the first month in office of new Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon, Customs collections expanded by 11 percent to P22.61 billion, with cash collections rising by 15 percent,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said in a statement.
The Treasury, meanwhile, raised P68.1 billion, or P6.8 billion higher than its target for January to September, while the other offices contributed P68.11 billion.
On the other hand, total disbursements amounted to P1.07 trillion for the nine-month period, or 7 percent lower than last year’s expenditures of P1.15 trillion. The disbursement of January to September is also 7 percent lower than the government’s program of P1.27 trillion, or a shortfall of allocations of P205.1 billion.
Actual disbursements in September amounted to P122.83 billion, which is also slightly lower than the previous year’s P123.58 billion.
“The government must speed up spending at a time when global uncertainties threaten to hurt domestic growth,” Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., said before the report.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said disbursements for the year are equivalent to 65 percent of the total budget for the year.
“Government agencies are continuing to improve their disbursement capacities and to catch up on their implementation of programs and projects. With increased efforts by agencies to implement their catch-up plans, we are optimistic that we can meet our minimum targeted deficit of P260 billion this year,” Abad said.
He admitted, however, that the underspending for the three quarters of the year was still the result of the slow disbursements of agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Some of notable special allotment release orders issued in September included the P4.9 billion for the Department of National Defense for the capability requirements in securing and protecting the Malampaya Natural Gas-to-Power Project, the P2.8 billion for the DPWH for various infrastructure projects, the P2.1 billion for the Department of the Interior and Local Government for the salaries and allowances of newly filled positions for uniformed personnel, the P1.8 billion for payment of customs, duties and taxes, the P1.6 billion for terminal leave and retirement gratuity benefits, the P1.2 billion for the Department of Health’s facilities enhancement program and P800 million for the National Electrification Administration’s sitio electrification project.
(With Bloomberg News)
