Government collects P4.4 trillion in revenues

Exceeds 2024 target

MANILA, Philippines — Government revenue collections in 2024 rose by 15 percent year-on-year to about P4.4 trillion, driven by higher tax and non-tax revenues, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

Last year’s revenues reached P4.41 trillion, exceeding both the targets set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) and the revised goal under the 2025 Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing (BESF), based on the preliminary figures released by the DOF.

The DBCC projected that total revenues last year would reach P4.38 trillion while the revised 2025 BESF indicated a P4.23-trillion revised revenue program for 2024.

The DOF figures, as of Jan. 16, showed that tax revenues reached P3.78 trillion, with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) contributing P2.83 trillion and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) accounting for P916.6 billion. The tax revenues of other state agencies reached P32.39 billion, according to the DOF.

Meanwhile, the government’s non-tax revenues reached P625.96 billion, based on the preliminary DOF data.

“Let me commend both the BIR and the BOC for more or less hitting their targets last year. I think we had the highest collection last year. I think we achieved a 16.5-percent revenue-to-GDP ratio (in 2024), the highest in 27 years,” Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said.

Recto said he expects the BIR to continue to hit its revenue target collection this year while sounding the alarm over some concerns in the revenue collections of the BOC.

“We want the BOC to grow by double digits also. I think that’s where the challenge is,” he said.

“Assuming they have a shortfall – they do not hit the double-digit (growth) – we are preparing what can we do to ensure that we still collect the revenue so that we do not increase (the government budget) deficit,” he added.

The finance chief identified non-tax revenues and other privatization proceeds as the possible measures to offset the possible shortfall in the BOC’s revenue collection this year.

Under the 2025 BESF, the government eyes to collect P4.64 trillion in revenues this year. Of the amount, about P3.23 trillion would come from BIR and another P1.06 trillion from the BOC.