The Philippines’ budget balance swung to a surplus in April 2023 as the acceleration in revenue collection outstripped the growth in government expenditures.
The national government’s budget recorded a surplus of P204.1 billion last month, a turnaround from the P4.9 billion a year earlier, the Bureau of the Treasury reported on Monday.
On the other hand, the cumulative deficit decreased by 34.57 percent to P204.1 billion, which was P107.8 billion less than the budget gap incurred during the same four-month period last year.
Actual government revenue collections in April stood at P440.7 billion, growing by 26.66 percent or P92.7 billion year-on-year.
Similarly, the resulting year-to-date revenue for the four months improved to P1.3 trillion, posting a yearly growth of 11.22 percent or P127.1 billion.
Tax collections amounted to P1.1 trillion in April, accounting for 89.18 percent of total revenues.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P336.0 billion, up 40.24 percent or P96.4 billion from a year ago.
“Growth for the period was attributed to the implementation of Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 5-2023 in line with Section 37 of the TRAIN Law, which requires the filing of Quarterly VAT Returns within twenty-five days following the close of each taxable quarter wherein the transaction was recorded,” BTr explained.
BIR’s total collections as of end-April, amounting to P841.2 billion, likewise outperformed the previous year’s outturn for the equivalent period by 13.31 percent or P98.8 billion.
Meanwhile, collections from the Bureau of Customs registered a modest growth of 2.87 percent, up by P1.9 billion in April 2023 to P67.6 billion from P65.7 billion the previous year.
BoC’s YTD collection reached P281.4 billion, 10.68 percent or P27.2 billion better than the previous year.
On the other hand, BTr income eased to P18.3 billion in April, 28.89 percent or P7.4 billion lower than the 2022 comparable level.
“The downturn for the month was mainly attributed to the base effect of early remittances of dividends from GOCCs last year,” BTr said.
As of end-April, total BTr revenue amounted to P57.3 billion, also down by 23.03 percent or P17.1 billion for the same reason.