THE government’s budget deficit widened in August as spending rose and revenues dipped, Bureau of the Treasury data showed on Thursday.
The month’s P161.3-billion shortfall rose from July’s P106.3 billion and was also higher than the P84.8 billion seen a year earlier.
It remained, however, within the P1.66-trillion gap programmed for 2026.
“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 Insurance Corp.’s arrears, while revenue collections declined due to lower nontax revenues,” the Treasury said in a statement.
The year-to-date budget balance remained in deficit at P1.05 trillion, markedly higher than the P869.2 billion recorded in January-August 2025.
Expenditures totaled P507.3 billion in August, up 16 percent from the year-earlier P437.3 billion, while revenues slipped 1.85 percent to P346 billion from P352.5 billion.
Year to date, revenues and expenditures grew by 4.27 percent and 8.01 percent, respectively, to P3.22 trillion and P4.27 trillion from P3.09 trillion and P3.95 trillion.
Revenues from taxes alone edged up by 0.32 percent to P332.3 billion from P331.2 billion in August and were up 5.03 percent to P2.93 trillion from P2.79 trillion year to date.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) accounted for the bulk of August tax revenues at P248.4 billion, 0.7 percent lower than the P250.1 billion seen a year ago.
The Treasury said this was mainly due to the “higher tax refund paid for the month.”
To date, BIR collections grew 4.6 percent to P2.24 trillion from P2.14 trillion.
The Bureau of Customs, meanwhile, saw August collections rise by 4.15 percent to P80.7 billion from P77.4 billion. This pushed the January-August tally up 6.87 percent to P664.1 billion from P621.4 billion.
The tax take from other offices dropped by 10.85 percent to P3.3 billion and was also 4.41 percent lower at P24.7 billion to date.
Nontax revenues, meanwhile, markedly dropped by 35.59 percent to P13.7 billion in August from P21.3 billion. Year to date, it fell by 2.83 percent to P289.8 billion from P298.3 billion.
Treasury collections alone dropped by 29.15 percent to P5.5 billion in August from P7.7 billion. This brought the eight-month tally to P207 billion, up 9.34 percent from P189.3 billion.
Primary expenditures, meanwhile, accounted for P441.6 billion of spending in August, 18.03 percent higher compared to the P374.2 billion a year earlier.
Interest payments, which accounted for the rest, rose 3.98 percent to P65.6 billion from P63.1 billion for the month and were 17.52 up at P686.5 billion year to date.
Excluding interest payments, the national government recorded a primary deficit of P95.6 billion in August, markedly higher than the year-ago P21.7 billion. The eight-month shortfall of P367.8 billion was also higher than last year’s P285 billion.
