Full-year national government budget deficit rises to P1.7 trillion in 2021
The National Government’s full-year budget deficit for 2021 reached P1.7 trillion, 21.78 percent or P298.7 billion higher year-on-year (YoY) as expenditures grew 10.60 percent vis-à-vis a 5.24 percent increase in government receipts.
The deficit is equivalent to 8.61 percent of GDP, lower than the 9.3 percent
program but still higher compared to the 7.65% recorded in the previous year.
However, the deficit was still 10 percent or P185.5 billion within the P1.9 trillion program for the year.
The P338 billion budget gap for the month of December 2021 similarly
expanded by 11.7 percent or P35.4 billion over last year’s level, driven by the 5.21 percent growth in government spending alongside a 3.03 percent contraction in revenue collection.
Full-year revenue of P3 trillion improved by 5.24 percent or P149.6 billion over last year and was 4.3 percent or P124 billion better than the P2.9 trillion program.
Ninety-one percent or P2.7 trillion of the total was generated through tax revenues which grew by 9.4 percent year-on-year.
Non-tax sources, on the other hand, comprised the remaining nine percent and posted a 24.4 percent contraction as collections normalized from the previous year.
Meanwhile, December collections narrowed to P231.3 billion, 3.03 percent or P7.2 billion lower against the P238.5 billion raised in the same month a year ago.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P2.1 trillion for the year after
deducting P8.2 billion in tax refunds paid to various claimants.
BIR’s final collection for the period showed a 6.51 percent or P127.1 billion improvements from last year’s performance and was just 0.15 percent short of the P2.1 trillion full-year program.
Meanwhile, BIR posted a marginal decrease of 0.63 percent or P1 billion in its December 2021 collection, with actual revenue of P162.3 billion.
The Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) full-year collection reached P643.6 billion (net of the P7.3 billion tax refund), outperforming last year’s achievement (P537.7 billion) and the target (P616.7 billion) by 19.69 percent and 4.35 percent, respectively.
BOC’s strong performance was credited to sustained enforcement activities, improved valuation, as well as improvement of importation volume.
BOC brought in P60.3 billion for December 2021, also growing by 32.93 percent or P14.9 billion year-on-year.
Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) income amounted to P125.3 billion and reflected a full year contraction of 42.95 percent or P94.3 billion mainly due to lower dividends on National Government shares of stocks, interest on advances from GOCCs, and other government service income.
Despite this, BTr overshot its full-year program of P74.7 billion by 67.8 percent or P50.6 billion as dividend remittances remain robust along with higher income from BSF investment and interest income from NG deposits.
BTr’s collection for December 2021 similarly slowed down by 43.41 percent or P3.6 billion largely due to lower dividend remittances and income from BSF investment for the month.
Total revenue from other offices (other non-tax including privatization proceeds and fees and charges) for 2021 stood at P140.4 billion, 6.5 percent faster than collections recorded a year ago and was 52.56 percent better than the programmed level of P92 billion.
Meanwhile, December collection of P3.1 billion dropped by 84.99% compared
to last year’s outturn of P20.8 billion.
Full-year disbursements reached P4.7 trillion, growing by 10.6 percent or P448.2 billion year-on-year owing to infrastructure and other capital expenditures, continued spending for various recovery measures including vaccine procurement and equity infusion in support of GFI lending assistance programs, as well as higher IRA shares of LGUs.
However, compared to the full-year program, year-to-date expenditures were still lower by 1.3 percent or P61.5 billion mainly due to lower-than-programmed interest payments.
Meanwhile, for December 2021, NG’s disbursement was recorded at P569.3 billion, increasing by 5.21 percent or P28.2 billion from last year’s actual of P541.1 billion.
Primary expenditure accounted for 91 percent or P4.2 trillion of total expenditures for FY 2021, up by 10.38 percent from the level posted a year ago and slightly higher than the full year program.
The P542 billion primary spending for December 2021 was, likewise, 5.08 percent or P26.2 billion above last year’s figure.
Interest payments for 2021 amounted to P429.4 billion, 12.89 percent or P49.0 billion higher year-on-year, but still 19.21 percent lower compared to the full-year program of P531.5 billion, generating P102.1 billion in savings.
Similarly, the P27.3 billion interest payment for December went up by 7.87 percent or P2 billion from a year ago.
Net of interest payments, National Government recorded a primary deficit of P1.2 trillion for 2021, exceeding the P991 billion primary deficit posted a year ago, but 6.3 percent short of the P1.3 trillion program.
Similarly, the primary deficit for December widened to P310.7 billion, 12.05 percent higher compared to last year.
Fiscal indicators revenue effort for 2021 declined to 15.5 percent from 15.92% last year but exceeded the program of 14.52 percent.
Tax effort of 14.13 percent, on the other hand, was up from last year’s
13.96 percent and the program of 13.68 percent. Meanwhile, total expenditure was 24.12 percent of GDP, higher than the 23.57 percent registered in 2020 and the target of 23.87 percent.
As a percentage of expenditures, total interest payment for FY 2021 accounted for 9.18 percent, up from 9 percent a year ago but lower than the target of 11.22 percent.
Lastly, interest payment as a percentage of total revenue was at 14.29 percent, increasing from 13.32 percent in 2020 but way below the 18.45 percent program. Bureau of the Treasury
