The National Government (NG) fiscal deficit for August grew by 90.23 percent (P76.5 billion) to P 161.3 billion from the P 84.8 billion shortfall in the previous year.

This brought the year-to-date deficit to P 1.05 trillion, 21.3 percent (P185.2 billion) higher than the P869.2 billion budget gap in the same period last year, but remains within the P1.66 trillion full-year deficit program.

The increase in August was driven by a 16 percent year-on-year spike in expenditures, mainly due to the settlement of the Philippine Health lnsurance Corporation's (PhilHealth) arrears, while revenue collections declined by 1.85 percent (P 6.5 billion) due to lower non-tax revenues.

Revenue performance revenue collections slowed to P346 billion in August, 1.85 percent (P6.5 billion) lower compared with the previous year's P352.5 billion, weighed down by a 35.59 percent drop in non-tax collections alongside a slower growth in tax revenues.

Nonetheless, the resulting year-to-date collections of P 3.22 trillion still underscored a 4.27 percent (P131.6 billion) improvement from last year's comparable outturn of P 3.09 trillion.

Cumulative tax collections of P 2.93 trillion increased by 5.03 percent (P 140 billion) from last year's P 2.79 trillion and contributed 90.99 percent to the year-to-date total.

Meanwhile, the remaining 9.01 percent (P 289.8 billion) came from non-tax revenues, which decreased by 2.83 percent (P 8.4 billion) from P298.3 billion in the previous year.

Total collections by the Bureau of lnternal Revenue for August amounted to P248.4 billion (net of the P10 billion in tax refunds), decreasing by 0.70 percent (P1.8 billion) from the P 250.1 billion attained in the same month last year, mainly due to the higher tax refund paid for the month.

Nevertheless, the agency's cumulative collection for the 8-month period, amounting to P 2.24 trillion, still outperformed last year's comparable collection of P 2.14 trillion by 4.6 percent (P 98.5 billion).

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) posted a 4.15 percent or P 3.2 billion year-on-year growth in August as its collection improved from P 77.4 billion to P 80.7 billion.

BOC's August revenue performance drove its year-to-date uptake to P 664.1 billion, rising by 6.87 percent (P 42.7 billion) from the P 621.4 billion raised in the equivalent period last year.

Non-tax revenues reached P13.7 billion in August, declining by 35.59 percent (P 7.6 billion) from P 21.3 billion in the previous year due to lower Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) income and collections from other offices.

Year-to-date collections of P 289.8 billion already accounted for 79.38 percent of the P 365.1 billion full-year target. Bureau of Treasury