April spending up 43%, highest for current gov’t

GOVERNMENT spending in April rose 43% year on year to P261.2 billion, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.

According to the April 2018 cash operations report released late Wednesday, government expenditure in April represented the “fastest rate of expansion since the beginning of the Duterte administration.”

In June 2014 spending grew 44% year-on-year.

Compared to March, government spending in April fell 16.58%.

According to the BTr, P238.1 billion or 91% of the funds spent in April went to “productive spending,” up 40% year on year.

The remainder went to interest payments worth P23.2 billion, up 72% from a year earlier, as the “servicing of obligations scheduled during the holidays in March were made in April instead.” The peso’s depreciation was also a factor, according to the BTr.

Sought for comment, Budget Undersecretary Laura B. Pascua said: “budget reforms (to encourage spendiong) are certainly working.”

“DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) came out with internal guidelines, effectively asking contractors doing work on previous years’ contracts to try and finish the work,” she added.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) implemented a cash- based appropriation scheme for agencies’ budgets in 2017, making them valid for one fiscal year.

The surge in spending shrank the budget surplus in April — which is usually buoyed income tax payments — by 12% year on year to P46.3 billion.

Revenue in April grew 30% year on year to P307.6 billion, the highest growth rate since the 35% posted in December.

Tax revenue in April accounted for P281.3 billion, up 28% from a year earlier. The Bureau of Internal Revenue was responsible for collecting P232.6 billion, up 24% from a year earlier, while the Bureau of Customs collected P46.8 billion, up 50%.

The BTr said collections rose due to the “higher excise tax take on fuel due to the implementation of the TRAIN law as well as improved and correct valuation and tariff classification,” referring to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law or Republic Act No. 10963.

Nontax revenue, meanwhile, amounted to P26.3 billion in April, up 66% from a year earlier. The BTr raised P14.2 billion of the total.

“Bulk of the increase was due to higher remittance of dividends on shares of stock held by the government and higher earnings from BTr- managed funds,” the Treasury bureau said.

In the four months to April, the fiscal deficit came in at P105.9 billion, which was revised downward by the BTr from the P115.9 billion announced on Wednesday. The year-earlier deficit was P30.2 billion.

The BTr also revised its overall four- month expenditure estimate to P1.033 trillion from P1.04 trillion earlier announced, up 29% from a year earlier.