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By Maricel E. Burgonio Reporter
THE Philippines cut its
expenditures to make up for a shortfall in revenues and allow
the government to reduce its budget deficit for the first nine
months of the year.
In a briefing, Finance Secretary
Margarito B. Teves said the government incurred a financing
shortfall of P40 billion at end-September, lower than the P54
billion ceiling expected for the period.
“The over performance can be
attributed to the lower spending partly on account of the savings in
interest payments due to lower borrowing costs,” Teves said.
For September alone, the funding
gap reached P14.5 billion, lower than the P17 billion expected for
the month and the P16.2 billion deficit posted during the same month
last year.
Last month’s fiscal numbers
allowed the government to post a budget surplus of P971 million in
the third quarter alone.
“We remain confident that we
will be able to hit our target of reducing the budget deficit to P63
billion this year,” Teves said.
The government missed its P837
billion revenue target for the first nine months, having collected
only P812.3 billion. This however was 13 percent higher than the
P715.9 billion generated in the same period last year.
The Bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR),
of Customs (BOC), and of Treasury (BTR) failed to hit revenue
targets.
Total spending reached P852.3
billion in the first nine months, lower than the P891 billion
program due to lower interest payments of P222.7 billion as against
the P246.6 billion program.
“While we continue to see
improvement in overall fiscal performance, there is a need to
further strengthen our revenue collection efforts,” Teves said.
BIR generated P521.9 billion at
end-September, lower than the P566 billion target. The agency, which
is tasked to generate P765.9 billion this year, accounts for over
two-thirds of the government’s total revenue goal of P1.118
trillion.
BOC collected P153 billion, lower
than its P165 billion program in the first nine months.
For September alone, the
government generated P80.9 billion revenues, with the BIR, BOC and
BTR contributing P48.9 billion, P19.1 billion and P8.6 billion,
respectively.
The sale of state assets so far
generated P80 billion, P40 billion of which was raised in the third
quarter alone.
“We are also pursuing
privatization to ensure that we will be able to raise the needed
revenue to fund the vital infrastructure and social services needed
by our people,” Teves said.
He said the government could
generate P36 billion from the sale of the government’s remaining
stake in Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC).
For next year, the government
plans to raise P30 billion from state asset sales. About P80 billion
is expected from selling shares in San Miguel Corp., Manila Electric
Co. as well as from the divestment from Food Terminal Inc. (FTI),
PNOC.-Exploration Corp., the National Penitentiary and the Fujimi
property.
In terms of borrowing, Teves said
the government plans to change its funding mix next year in favor of
domestic sources.
“Given the circumstances,
we’re looking at 70 percent to 30 percent ratio instead of 64
percent to 36 percent ratio by adding P20 to P21 billion of domestic
borrowing,” he said.
The total net financing program
next year amounts to P86.9 billion, consisting of net external
financing of P59 billion and net domestic financing of P27.9
billion.
With the additional P21 billion,
domestic financing will increase to a P48.9 billion next year.
The government plans to borrow $1
billion from commercial sources, and $1.6 billion from foreign
donors.
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