Budget swings to surplus in November

MANILA, Philippines - The government posted its fourth budget surplus for 2015 in November, the Bureau of the Treasury reported yesterday.

The budget balance swung to a P6.03 billion surplus in November after two consecutive months of deficit.

It marked the fourth time last year that the balance went positive after recording a surplus in April (P52.6 billion), May (P67.34 billion) and August (P15.04 billion).

The November result trimmed the 11-month deficit to P46.55 billion, or 16 percent of last year’s programmed shortfall of P283.7 billion.

“We remain firm in our fiscal discipline. We will continue developing our tax administration and enforcement capacity,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said.

Sought for comment, Nicholas Antonio Mapa, economist and research officer at Bank of the Philippine Islands, said the November fiscal report is a welcome development.

“The 12 percent growth in revenues coupled with 13 percent expansion in expenditure is welcome as it shows we are increasing spending, while revenue collection ensures that taxes are collected efficiently,” Mapa said in an e-mail.

The government has been criticized for its lackluster spending despite double-digit growth in revenues in early months of last year. It turned a corner in July when spending rose by a fourth year-on-year.

The trend of double-digit growth continued in November, when expenditures added 13 percent to P171.42 billion. Revenues went up 12 percent to P177.45 billion.

“We, at DBM, are pleased to know that gradual efforts to address issues in underspending...have produced results,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.

From January to November, total disbursements and revenues increased by P1.992 trillion and P1.945 trillion, respectively.

“It’s good that spending is already picking up but I think it’s still not enough considering your expenditure gap, especially in infrastructure. At that level, you should see spending rising around 30 percent,” said Alvin Ang, economist at Ateneo de Manila University.

Breaking down the report, the bulk of the revenues in November came from the Bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Customs. Their collections rose 12 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

“Customs collections, in particular, were unusually high considering the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) holiday and that most holiday shipments have already been delivered that time,” Ang said in a phone interview.