Fiscal gap shrinks to P123.9B in Nov.

Revenue collection is on track to meet the government's full-year objective due to the Bureau of Customs' stronger-than-anticipated performance, the Bureau of Treasury said on Tuesday.

This comes after the November 2022 budget deficit decreased by 3.71 percent from the P128.7 billion deficit recorded in November 2021 to P123.9 billion.

According to the Treasury bureau, the fiscal gap decreased as government income increased by 16.57 percent in November, outpacing expenditures' 10.24 percent growth.

"Consequently, the cumulative budget deficit as of end-November slowed to P1.2 trillion, 7.23 percent (P96.3 billion) lower than the budget gap posted in the equivalent period last year and was at 75 percent of the P1.7 trillion full-year program," the Treasury bureau said.

Revenue haul seen

Treasury data showed that the end-November revenue haul increased to P3.277 trillion, up by 18.1 percent than the P2.774 trillion collected during the same period last year.

Ninety percent of the total came from taxes, and the final ten percent came from non-tax sources.

The Customs revenues, which increased by 9.4 percent to P789.2 billion from its P721.5 billion objective, are what the Treasury claims are responsible for the increased revenue.

As a result, Customs' first eleven-month intake increased 35 year-on-year from P583.3 billion.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P2.156 trillion from January to November, an increase of 12 percent over P1.915 trillion during the same time in 2016.

Michelle Guillang