BUDGET DEFICIT GOAL LIKELY MISSED – DoF
THE The Duterte administration pledged policy to accelerate economic growth, year to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran came in at 2.6-2.8 percent of GDP while Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said it may not have even reached 2.8 percent.
“Even though our expenses went up, our collection went up also,” Dominguez explained.
The Finance department said the estimates were still an improvement given the 2016 result of 2.4 percent.
Data as of end-November showed well below the 2017 goal of P482.1 billion but higher than the P235.2-billion shortfall posted in the comparable 2016 period.
January to November revenues were up 11 percent year-on-year to P2.25 trillion while year-to-date expenditures grew 10 percent to P2.49 trillion.
“Other” expenditures rose 11 percent to P2.20 trillion while interest payments recorded 2 percent growth to P290 billion.
Netting out interest payments, the government recorded a P12- billion primary surplus in November, sig surplus last year.
Year-to-date, the primary balance hit a surplus of P46.5 billion, narrower than last year’s P50.2-billion surplus.
Preliminary Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data released this month, meanwhile, showed that national government disbursements fell just below target last year despite double- digit growth.
Spending was said to have hit P2.9 trillion last year, up 13.8 percent from P2.54 trillion in 2016 but short of the P2.909-trillion target.
Double-digit collection growth was also recorded for the government’s main revenue agencies — the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs — but targets for the year
were also missed.
The BIR was said to have collected P1.76 trillion in 2017, up 12.5 percent from the previous year’s P1.56 trillion. The tax agency, however, missed its P1.78-trillion collection goal.
The Customs bureau for its part collected P463.8 billion, up 17 percent from 2016’s P396.4 billion but short of the P468-billion target.