Gov’t misses spending target in 9 months

The national government failed to meet its spending program during the first nine months, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.

According to the latest cash operations report of the Treasury, government expenditures during the January to September period amounted to P2.01 trillion, six percent lower than the year-to-date disbursement target of P2.14 trillion.

This was, however, eight percent more than the P1.86 trillion spent in the same period last year.

For September alone, spending declined two percent to P237 billion, also below the P255.6 billion expenditure program for the month.

Sought for comment, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the slowerthan-expected spending in September could be attributed to base effects and the one-time disbursements made by the government in the same month in 2016.

“It’s base effects... We had a onetime large disbursement in September 2016 (the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. payment in response to a Supreme Court decision),” Diokno said in a text message.

Last year, a payment of P20.5 billion was remitted to PIATCO, which won a case against the government over a building of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.

Despite the slowdown in spending during the month, the budget chief said he remains confident state agencies would be able to catch up with its spending program for the whole year.

“Spending for the rest of the year is expected to be strong and aligned with the fiscal program,” he said.

For 2017, the government is programmed to spend P2.91 trillion, 18.3 percent of the country’s projected gross domestic product.

Meanwhile, Treasury data also showed revenue during the first nine months rose nine percent to P1.80 trillion from P1.65 trillion a year ago. This was also broadly in line with the P1.79 trillion target revenue of the government during the period.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) alone collected P1.30 trillion as of end-September, up 11 percent from P1.17 trillion last year. But the bureau remains slightly off its P1.32 trillion target for the period.

The Bureau of Customs also posted a 12-percent increase in collections to P323.8 billion from P287.9 billion. However, it failed to meet its P336.9 billion year-to-date target.

For September, total revenue amounted to P183.4 billion, 24 percent up from P147.8 billion last year.

The surge in government revenue in September amid the slowdown in revenues resulted in narrower fiscal deficit during the month.