The national government’s (NG) fiscal balance swung back to a P149.9 billion budget deficit for June 2021 compared to last year, due to the 30.03% decline in revenue collection as the payment of income taxes was maintained on its original schedule.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) released data showing that the outturn for the period resulted in a year-to-date (YTD) budget gap of P716.1 billion, up by 27.78% from last year’s level, but 29.66% behind the first-half 2021 program of P1,018.0 billion.
Revenue performance
Total collections for June slid to P245.6 billion, 30.03% or P105.4 billion less than last year’s tally of P351.0 billion. Nevertheless, YTD collections of P1,490.4 billion still topped the end-June 2020 outturn by 2.55% or P37.0 billion, on account of higher tax collections, and outperformed the revised forecast of P1,421.8 billion by 4.82%. Of the total, 90% was raised through taxes while the remaining 10% was made up of non-tax revenue.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P159.4 billion, exhibiting a significant 43.62% year-on-year (YoY) drop in revenue due to the high base effect of extending the income tax payment to June last year in light of the implementation of strict quarantine measures.
Despite this, BIR’s cumulative collection for the six-month period still managed to grow by 7.88% to P1,031.8 billion from the 2020 comparable outturn, and surpassed the revised goal of P1,017.7 billion by 1.39%.
The Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) net collection for the month reached P52.2 billion, exceeding last year’s achievement by 22.48% or P9.6 billion and marking the fourth straight month of double-digit growth boosted by improving importation volume and agency collection efforts.
Consequently, BOC’s cumulative balance as of end-June expanded to P301.7 billion, 19.22% higher from a year ago and 3.40% better than the adjusted program of P291.8 billion.
The income collected and generated by the BTr rose to P20.8 billion in June, up by 84.19% YoY. The P12.2 billion YoY increase in dividend remittances as well as the higher remittance of NG share from PAGCOR profit drove the growth for the month.
Meanwhile, BTr’s YTD collection still narrowed by 55.45% YoY to P81.6 billion due to higher income and dividend remittances last year in line with the implementation of Republic Act No. 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal As One Act.”
However, the outturn still exceeded its target for the period by 56.48% and the full-year program of P74.7 billion by 9.29% or P6.9 billion on account of higher dividend remittances, income from Bond Sinking Fund investment and government deposits, as well as interest income on advances to GOCCs.
The P11.3 billion collections from other offices (other non-tax including privatization proceeds and fees and charges) for June went down by 14.04% on a YoY basis. The resulting YTD revenue of P65.3 billion for the first six months, on the other hand, improved by 24.54% from last year’s comparable figure and was 31.78% higher than the programmed level for the period. (BTr) – jlo
