By Joann Santiago
MANILA, June 18 (PNA) — The Philippine government posted its first budget surplus in 2015 last April amounting to Php 52.6 billion, the Department of Finance (DOF) reported Thursday.
However, the amount is lower than the Php 80.9 billion surplus same period in 2014 due to the increase in government spending and drop in revenue collections.
DOF data show that expenditures grew by nine percent to Php 156.5 billion against year-ago’s Php 143.6 billion.
Collections, on the other hand, fell seven percent to Php 209.1 billion compared to the Php 224.4 billion in April 2014.
Of the total revenues, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) shared in Php 160.8 billion, three percent higher than its Php 156.1 billion collection same period last year.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC), on the other hand, posted a nine percent revenue decline to Php 28.1 billion against year-ago’s Php 30.8 billion.
The same trend was registered by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), which registered a 62 percent drop in revenues to Php 11.6 billion from Php 30.8 billion in April 2014.
The Other Offices has the highest revenue expansion of 28 percent to Php 8.6 billion from year-ago’s Php 6.7 billion.
For the four-month period, revenues rose by nine percent to Php 679.6 billion compared to the Php 622.9 billion.
BIR contributed Php 467.9 billion, up by 11 percent against the Php 420.8 billion in end-April 2014.
BOC’s revenues went up by three percent to Php 120.4 billion compared the Php 117.3 billion same period last year.
The Other Offices’ revenues rose by 27 percent to Php 41.9 billion from Php 33 billion in the first four months of 2014.
Only the BTr’s January-April collection posted a decline after only reaching Php 49.5 billion against year-ago’s collection amounting to Php 51.8 billion.
The Finance department is positive on the sustained rise of the government’s fiscal space, which has been a big help in the domestic growth.
“We are working hard to, one can perhaps say, put a 6th R to our spending philosophy: we want to spend on right project, with the right quality, with the right people, at the right time, at the right cost, and at the right pace,” it added. (PNA)