Gov’t revenue climbs 5% in seven months

Collections hit ₱ 2.87T, led by BIR and BOC.

The National Government’s revenues rose 5.05% in the first seven months of the year to ₱2.87 trillion, as stronger tax collections helped increase the money flowing into government coffers.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said Thursday that the seven-month total was up from ₱2.74 trillion a year earlier. The increase, however, remained modest compared with the pace of spending, which rose 19.82% in July and helped push the monthly budget deficit to ₱106.3 billion.

Much of the revenue growth came from the country’s two main tax collectors. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) brought in ₱1.99 trillion from January to July, up 5.31% from ₱1.89 trillion a year earlier. Its July collections reached ₱358.4 billion.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) likewise added to the increase, with its seven-month collections reaching ₱583.4 billion, 7.25% higher than the ₱544 billion collected during the same period last year. The BOC collected ₱91.6 billion in July.

Not all revenue sources moved in the same direction, though. Non-tax revenues slipped slightly to ₱276.1 billion in the first seven months from ₱277 billion a year earlier. In July alone, they plunged 39.92% to ₱29.6 billion, with the BTr attributing the decline to the timing of dividend remittances.

The revenue figures show why government income has struggled to keep pace with spending. While tax collections continued to grow, the increase was far smaller than the rise in expenses, contributing to the wider budget deficit.

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