MANILA – The budget deficit hit P49.3 billion in October, down 17.7 percent compared to the same month in 2018, as revenues grew faster than expenditures, the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) said on Monday.
This brought the Jan-Oct budget gap to P348.3 billion, which was also lower by 20.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
The BTr said revenue collections in Oct. reached P261.6 billion, which is 6 percent or P14.8 billion above last year’s collections.
Expenditures meanwhile reached P310.8 billion during the month, slightly up by 1.37 percent from October last year.
The Duterte administration has said that it was going to let the budget deficit grow by aggressively spending for its ambitious infrastructure push meant to give the economy a boost.