The national government recorded a P68.4 billion budget surplus in January this year, according to Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data.

In its latest cash operations report on Tuesday, the BTr said the budget surplus during the month was lower than the P88 billion surplus recorded in January last year "due to sustained revenue growth alongside increased expenditures."

Revenue collections recorded a double-digit growth of 10.7 percent to P476.1 billion in January from P421.8 billion last year.

"The increase was driven by higher tax collections, which improved by 13.60 percent YoY (year-on-year)," said the BTr.

Tax revenues amounted to P437.5 billion while non-tax collections reached P29.6 billion.

Expenditures

The BTr meanwhile, said expenditures went up by 19.45 percent to P398.8 billion in January from P333.9 billion in the same month last year.

"This robust spending performance resulted mainly from the disbursements attributed to progress billings of completed infrastructure and other capital outlay projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, implementation of various health and social protection programs, as well as expenses of the Commission on Elections for preparatory activities relative to the conduct of the 2025 National and Local Elections," said the BTr.

"Higher National Tax Allotment (NTA) releases and subsidies to government corporations also contributed to the significant growth of disbursements in January, as well as an uptick in Interest Payments (IP) that merely reflects a shift in coupon payment timing due to the issuance strategy of multiple re-offerings of treasury bonds originally issued in January last year to improve secondary market trading activity," it added. 

BTR PHOTO