Philippines' budget gap hits P22.8-B from January-May

THE Philippine government's fiscal deficit reached to P22.786 billion for the first five months to May this year, the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) said on Tuesday.

The budget shortfall from January to May this year was 138.8 percent higher than the P9.54 billion deficit recorded during the same period last year.

For May alone, the budget gap reached to P19.9 billion, up by 107.3 percent from P9.601 billion a year ago.

BTr said the revenue collections for the first five months of the year rose to P645.645 billion, 11 percent increase from P581.501 billion last year.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P439.816 billion from January to May this year or a growth of 12.5 percent compared to the same period last year, while the Bureau of Customs (BOC) generated P120.126 billion or a growth of 12.4 percent.

The BTr income was recorded at P46.886 billion while collections from other offices were recorded at P38.817 billion.

Revenue collections reached P131.403 billion for the month of May. It grew by 9.4 percent compared to the same period last year of P120.088 billion. Actual collections for the month were recorded at P94.551 billion for BIR, P25.230 billion for BOC.

BTr income and collections from other offices for the month were recorded at P5.039 billion and P6.583 billion, respectively.

Government expenditures, meanwhile, rose to P668.431 billion from January to May this year from P591.041 billion in 2011.

Actual disbursements in May amounted to P151.304 billion. (SDR/Sunnex)