'Notable' revenue gain shrinks budget deficit

THE national government's (NG) budget deficit narrowed substantially in October from a year earlier as revenues outpaced spending, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Wednesday.

The shortfall shrunk by 65.27 percent to P34.4 billion, P64.7 billion lower than the year-earlier P99.1 billion.

The improvement was «underscored by a notable 33.56 percent rise in revenue collections outpacing government expenditure growth of 8.32 percent,» the Treasury said in a statement.

Year to date, the overall budget deficit contracted to P1.01 trillion, down by 8.45 percent from a year earlier and equivalent to 67.88 percent of this year's P1.49-trillion target.

Revenues totaled P385.8 billion in October, up from last year's P288.9 billion, while the P420.2 billion in spending was higher than the year-earlier P387.9 billion.

The ten-month revenue tally of P3.22 trillion likewise marked a 9.41-percent increase from P2.95 trillion in the comparable 2022 period.

Tax collections accounted for the bulk, or 89.84 percent, of year-to-date revenue, with the remaining 10.16 percent generated from non-tax collections.

For October alone, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) posted a 46.94-percent increase in collections to P274.4 billion. Reckoned from the start of the year, the tax bureau saw collections grow by 11.11 percent to P2.13 trillion, which was 80.80 percent of the P2.639-trillion target for 2023.

The higher outturn for October was a result of the third quarter remittance of value-added tax returns due on October 25, 2023, the Treasury said.

The Bureau of Customs also saw revenues increase by 3.83 percent to P77.9 billion from a year earlier. The year-to-date total of P738.3 billion was 3.47 percent better and made up 84.46 percent of the P874.2-billion target for this year.

Treasury collections, meanwhile, grew by 26.99 percent to P16.8 billion due to increased earnings from national government deposits, managed funds, and the government's share of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) income.

The bureau's year-to-date (YTD) collections also improved to P174.8 billion, marking a 22.31-percent increase and already exceeded the P58.3 billion full-year program by almost