PHL budget deficit expands 96% in Jan.—Nov. 2018

The national government’s budget deficit widened by 96 percent in the first 11 months of the year as expenditures exceeded revenue growth, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said Thursday.

The deficit reached P477.2 billion in January to November, from P243.5 billion in the same period last year.

The deficit as of end-November accounted for 91 percent of the P523.7-billion deficit program for the year, the bureau said.

Higher disbursements compared with a moderate increase in revenue collection helped widen the fiscal gap, the BTr noted.

"This is what this government is set out to do, so this is expected," Union Bank of the Philippines chief economist Ruben Carlo Asuncion said.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic managers set a budget deficit ceiling of 3 percent of gross domestic product this year to create enough fiscal space for the government’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.

“The higher budget deficit will not be bad if it translates to actual growth. It will be bad if not,” Asuncion said.

Total expenditures in January to November grew by 24 percent to P3.095 trillion from P2.493 trillion year-on-year.

Government revenue, meanwhile, amounted to P2.618 trillion, up 16 percent from P2.250 trillion.

Collections from by the Bureau of Internal Revenue accounted for the lion’s share of P1.801 trillion of revenue, up 11 percent from P1.621 trillion.

Bureau of Customs collections contributed P538.5 billion, up 30 percent from P413.1 billion.

Non-tax collections increased by 31 percent to P258 billion from P196.4 billion. —Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News