Philippines: Budget deficit falls below target in 2017

• Feb 27, 2018

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government saw its fiscal balance swing to a deficit in 2017 but settled way below target, although the country still spent less than programmed last year, the Bureau of the Treasury reported Tuesday.

The national government clocked a P107.1 billion budget gap in December 2017, the biggest monthly shortfall in a year.

That brought the January-December 2017 deficit to P350.6 billion, 27 percent short of the P482.1 billion target for the year.

Budget deficit in 2017 was equivalent to 2.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, settling within the government’s ceiling of 3 percent. 

According to Treasury data, revenue collections reached its highest level for the year in December, growing 35 percent to P223.1 billion. “All revenue generating offices posted strong performance,” the BTr said.

That helped the full-year collections tally breach the government’s target to P2,473.1 billion, the highest annual growth posted since 2013.

On the other hand, disbursements in December was up 16 percent year-on-year to P330.2 billion, bringing the full-year total to P2,823.8 billion.

Government spending expanded 11 percent in 2017 from a year ago but missed its goal by 3 percent. This means the government continued to underspend, although narrower than in previous years.

The interagency Development Budget and Coordinating Committee recently tweaked their revenue, disbursement and deficit programs, while retaining the deficit ceiling at 3.0% of GDP until 2022 as the Duterte administration plans to jack up infrastructure spending.

Source: https://beta.philstar.com/business/2018/02/27/1791889/budget-deficit-falls-below-target-2017#UuhrOOwZuIY4q0k9.99