The national government’s budget widened by 75.6 percent in the first quarter of 2025 to P478.8 billion from a year ago, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.
It said that despite the larger deficit in the three-month period, it was still in line with the government’s P1-5 trillion deficit program for the full year,.
The BTr said the government’s revenue collection in the first quarter remained robust, growing by 6.90 percent to reach P998.2 billion.
Government spending was on target at P1.5 trillion, or 23.89 percent of the full-year expenditure program and representing a 22.43-percent year-on-year increase.
Total revenue collections in the first three months remained on track due to the strong performance of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC), which drove tax collections to P931.5 billion, or 13.55 percent higher than in the same period last year.
“The revenue agencies’ sustained growth for the third consecutive month was driven by their ongoing revenue enhancement measures, particularly the intensified campaign against the use of fake receipts, intensified crackdown on illicit trade, digitalization, and improvements in tax payment facilitation, among other initiatives,” the BTr said.
The BOC posted a 5.72-percent increase, amounting to P231.4 billion, due to higher VAT from non-oil imports and excise tax collections from oil and non-oil imports.
Meanwhile, non-tax revenues contributed P66.7 billion in the first quarter of the year, appearing lower than last year’s level by 41.21 percent, but largely due to timing as 18 government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) remitted P28.23 billion in early first quarter dividends back in 2024 compared with only three GOCCs with P0.027 billion early dividends for the current year.
Non-tax revenues are expected to improve in the succeeding months, with dividends from the GOCCs set to be remitted to the National Treasury starting May 2025.
Expenditures reached P1.5 trillion in the first three months, or almost a quarter of the P6.2-trillion 2025 full-year disbursement program.
This was an improvement over the 20.36-percent share of total expenditures attainment in the first quarter of 2024.
The more balanced share of first-quarter expenditure in the current year corresponds to a level that is 22.43 percent (P270.6 billion) higher than last year’s outturn.
The strong spending performance can be attributed to the higher disbursements recorded in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for its road infrastructure program and regular operating requirements, and in the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for its various protective services programs.
