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By Chino S. Leyco, Reporter
THE government kept its first-half budget gap
below the ceiling as it cut spending during the period, the
Department of Finance said Wednesday.
In a briefing, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves
said the government posted a budget deficit of P18 billion, or way
below the P41 billion ceiling for the period.
First-half revenues amounted to P570 billion, or
8 percent higher than the programmed P561 billion for the period,
while expenditures reached P588 billion, or 15 percent lower than
the projected P602-billion disbursements.
Teves said the lower spending in the first six
months of the year was due to delayed implementation of
government’s projects.
“We are hoping that on the expenditure side,
it will catch up in the second semester. We need to step up on the
spending side because as of the first semester we are still ahead of
the deficit than the program and on the expenditure side we’re
falling short,” he said.
The Bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR) and of
Customs exceeded their collection targets for the first six months
this year. The BIR raised P390 billion, or higher than its target of
P379 billion. Customs generated P117 billion, which is slightly more
than its goal of P116.4 billion. Both agencies account for at least
80 percent of government revenues.
“We hope to sustain this positive performance
in the second half to enable the government to provide social
protection to the poor amid the rising food and oil prices as well
as attain our economic growth targets,” Teves said.
In June alone, the government registered a
surplus of P769 million, on revenues of P87.6 billion and
expenditures of P86.8 billion. This year’s surplus however is
lower than last year’s P782 million.
The government earlier pushed back its target to
balance its budget this year to 2010 amid plans to raise spending
and cushion the public from the double whammy of high inflation and
an economic slowdown. In lieu of a balanced-budget, the government
expects to end this year with a deficit of P40 billion. Total
revenues are programmed to reach P1.23 trillion.
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