Push Admin

Budget deficit rises to P210 billion in March

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA - The Philippines’ budget deficit climbed to P210.3 billion in March, which was 12 percent higher compared to the same month last year, the Bureau of Treasury said on Tuesday. </p><p>The higher fiscal gap was due to an 11.9 percent decrease in government receipts even as spending also fell 2.6 percent, Treasury said.</p><p>However, Treasury also noted that the P270.9 billion budget gap in the first three months of the year was lower by 70.9 billion or 14.5 percent compared to the first quarter of 2023. </p><p>The agency also noted that revenues for the 3-month period still surpassed the P784.4 billion collected last year for the same period by P34.3 billion. </p><p>RCBC chief economist Michael Ricafort meanwhile noted that the March deficit was the widest since December last year, and was nearly double the P104.4 billion gap in February. He said the reduction of some individual income tax rates under the TRAIN law, may have affected revenues. </p><p>But he also said the reduced tax rates will help more people cope with higher prices and inflation and would also help stimulate more spending and other business/economic activities. He said this will support faster overall economic growth.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/30/23/philippine-debt-rises-to-p1375-trillion-in-february">Philippine debt rises to P13.75 trillion in February</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/04/03/23/ph-budget-deficit-hits-p1064-billion-in-february">PH budget deficit hits P106.4 billion in February</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2601317" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The Philippines’ budget deficit climbed to P210.3 billion in March, which was 12 percent higher compared to the same month last year, the Bureau of Treasury said on Tuesday. 