The government posted a rare budget surplus of P6.3 billion in October 2024 on the back of a 22.63-percent jump in revenue collections which outpaced the 11.08-percent increase in expenditures, the Bureau of the Treasury said Wednesday.
It was a huge improvement from the P34.4-billion budget deficit registered in October 2023.
“Thus, the year-to-date deficit narrowed to P963.9 billion, which stands at only 64.94 percent of the P1.48 trillion full-year program,” the Treasury said.
Revenue collections in October amounted to P473.1 billion, up by P87.3 billion from the same month last year, driven by robust growth in both tax and non-tax collections. The P3.8-trillion 10-month revenues also surpassed last year’s performance by 16.83 percent to P542.4 billion.
It represented 88.20 percent of the P4.27-trillion revised full-year program.
The Treasury said of the 10-month revenues, 85.68 percent, or P3.23 trillion came from taxes, which grew by 11.40 percent or P330.1 billion year-on-year.
The remaining 14.32 percent or P539.4 billion were from non-tax sources, which climbed at a faster rate of 64.93 percent to P212.3 billion from a year ago.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) collections in October grew 18.62 percent to P325.5 billion. net of P184.0 million tax refund, on higher value-added tax (VAT), personal income tax, documentary stamp tax (DST), corporate income tax (CIT), excise tax on tobacco products and percentage tax collections.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) posted an 11.50 percent increase in collections, with net collections totaling P86.9 billion after a deduction of P757.0 million in tax refund.
The performance marks a recovery from a dip in the previous month, driven by the agency’s rigorous verification of imported goods values and classifications, along with the stringent implementation of the fuel marking initiative.
This brought the agency’s cumulative revenues to P777.6 billion, or 5.32 percent higher than a year ago.
Meanwhile, income collected and generated by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) moderated to P14.5 billion in October, down by 13.50 percent from P16.8 billion last year on lower income realized from investments.
Expenditures in October amounted to P466.8 billion, up from P420.2 billion spent in the same month last year. Ten-month disbursements reached P4.73 trillion, an 11.52-percent increase from the previous year’s level, and equivalent to 82.20 percent of the P5.75 trillion revised full-year target.
