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LOAN interest payments of the national government
increased year on year in January to March despite the significant
appreciation of the peso against the greenback.
Finance data showed interest
payments grew by 12.4 percent to P100.2 billion in January to March
this year; however, the increase remained below the programmed
P102.3 billion for the period.
Interest payments hardly went
down in March as the government paid P30.3 billion from P33.2
billion in the same month last year.
The increased interest payments
bloated national government expenditures to P305.1 billion from
January to March against the programmed P309.8 billion. Government
expenditures in the same period last year were lower at P289.3
billion.
Last year, expenditures in
September alone dropped to P103.4 billion from P108.4 billion in the
same month in 2006.
Low interest payments contribute
partly to the reduction of the national government’s budget
deficit, which reached P51.6 billion in the first three months of
the year, lower than the programmed ceiling of P60.2-billion deficit
during the period.
Despite the wider deficit,
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government is sticking to
its plan of balancing the budget this year even as public spending
is expected to increase.
The finance department, however,
said the government is projected to post a budget surplus of P19.2
billion in the second quarter, with revenues expected to reach
P312.1 billion and expenditure at P309.8 billion.
Teves said the budget surplus is
expected to reach P5.8 billion in the period July to September as
government’s revenues are seen at P332.3 billion and expenditures
at P326.4 billion.
In the final three months of the
year, the DOF has projected P35.1 billion in budget excess, with
expenditures reaching P307.1 billion and revenues, P342.2 billion.
Teves said the government aims
for a zero budget gap, but added these targets are yet to be
confirmed by the Development Budget Coordinating Committee.
Under the set targets, the BIR,
which shares 70 percent of the government revenue will collect P219
billion in the current quarter, P227 billion for the July to
September period and P238 billion in the last quarter. The BOC
collection, meanwhile, targets P51.7 billion in April to June, P69.5
billion in the third quarter and P68.6 billion in the last quarter.
“These are the programmed
revenues and expenditures for the rest of year. There may be some
adjustments later, but we will end the year with a balanced
budget,” the finance chief said.
--Chino S. Leyco
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