BTr: National govt swings to budget surplus in January
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HE national government reverted to a budget surplus in January 2025 for the first time in four months, as higher revenue collection outpaced expenditures, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr). Latest data from the Treasury showed the government posted a budget surplus of P68.4 billion in January 2025, 22.27 percent lower than the P88-billion surplus recorded in the same month a year ago. Ateneo De Manila University economist Leonardo A. Lanzona told the BusinessMirror the government will swing to deficit in the succeeding months as it ramps up its spending. “The year-to-year decline indi-
cates tougher conditions in the coming months,” Lanzona said. BTr data showed revenue collection increased by 10.75 percent year-on-year to P467.1 billion from P421.8 billion, driven by higher tax revenues. Taxes contributed 93.66 percent or P467.1 billion to overall revenues, which rose by 13.60 percent year-on-year from P385.2 billion. Broken down, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) raised P355.1 billion, higher by 15.13 percent from P308.4 billion a year ago. The growth in collections was attributed to the increase in value-added tax (P21.4 billion), gains in income taxes (P18.1 billion) percentages taxes (P3.4
billion) and other taxes (P3.7 billion) collections. The BIR’s “intensified collection efforts, aggressive illicit trade campaigns and digital transformation projects” also improved its collections for the month, the Treasury said. The Bureau of Customs (BOC) also generated P79.3 billion, 7.98 percent higher than the P73.4 billion it collected a year ago due to the agency’s modernization program. VAT collections amounted to P7.7 billion, while excise collections grew to P1.8 billion, which the Treasury said counterbalanced the reduction in duty collections due to lower tariffs on rice imports under Executive Order No. 62.
Lanzona said the month of January is the peak month for tax collections in the Philippines as taxpayers make advance payments. The collection of other taxes, such as VAT and excise taxes, remain strong in the first quarter, partly due to “lingering holiday spending.” Despite this, non-tax revenues dropped by 19.16 percent to P29.6 billion in January 2025, due to the base effect of one-time gains last year, according to the Treasury. The Treasury contributed P15.7 billion to non-tax revenues, although lower than the P16.7 billion it remitted a year ago. Meanwhile, government spending in January 2025 amounted to See “BTr,” A2
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By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto @reine_alberto
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ITHOUT infrastructure and institutional reforms in agriculture and the services sector, the national government will be hard-pressed to reach the high-end of its economic growth target until next year. In its Monetary Policy Report for February, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the country’s economic growth is expected to be “moderate” compared to its previous assessments as it will settle at the lower end of the 6 percent to 8 percent growth target of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) for 2025 and 2026. “Uncertainty surrounding global economic policies, particularly the potential impact from proposed US tariffs, poses additional risks to domestic growth,” the central bank said. The slowdown in services and contraction in agriculture which resulted in the lower-than-expected 5.2 percent economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2024, as well as higher global commodity prices, are seen to dampen economic activity. See “Headwinds,” A2
RUSH HOUR RESCUE An MRT-3 train navigates EDSA during peak hours on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. To ease commuter congestion, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has ordered the MRT-3 management to extend evening operations by an hour, providing additional service during rush hours. The move comes as Metro Manila’s public transport system faces increasing demand amid rising fuel prices and ongoing road congestion. NONOY LACZA
EXPORTERS PIN HOPES ON TAX PERKS, INFRA AMID TRADE WAR By Andrea E. San Juan
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@andreasanjuan
OCAL exporters are banking on key fiscal reforms, such as CREATE More and the development of ports and railway systems, to stay afloat, according to the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport). Aside from the scarce budget for promotion, the group said exporters will also have to contend with domestic and external risks. “In addition to the insuffi-
cient fund for export, particularly export promotion, we will continue to face key domestic and external risks this year that include weather disturbances, extreme natural disasters, an acute and protracted global economic slowdown in major economies, ongoing geopolitical tensions and conflicts, trade wars, and protectionist trade policies, especially in the United States,” Philexport President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. said during the 1st Quarter General Membership Meeting (GMM) of Philexport. See “Exporters,” A2
PPP projects in pipeline to cost P2.6T By Bless Aubrey Ogerio
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@blessogerio
UBLIC-PRIVATE partnership (PPP) projects under the national government’s pipeline stood at 176, including eight new projects, based on data from the PPP Center. The agency said the projects in the pipeline as of March 14 would cost a total of P2.6 trillion. The number of projects was unchanged from February. Six projects, including two national and four local ones, were delisted. The delisted projects, all unsolicited, were the Design Build Finance Operate the Air Navigation Services of the Philippines;
General Mariano Alvarez Cavite Digitalized Traffic Enforcement; RENEWSTABLE Green Hydrogen Power Plant in Marinduque; Pagsanjan Digitalized Traffic Enforcement; Cauayan City Digitalized Traffic Enforcement; and Cainta Digitalized Traffic Enforcement. “The change in the number of projects in the pipeline is due to the addition in the list of unsolicited proposals endorsed by the PPP Center to Implementing Agencies [IA] for their decision to proceed with detailed evaluation or rejection of the same projects included in the list of PPP projects submitted by IAs to the PPP Center; and addition of project updates received
through PPPC’s engagement with various IAs,” the PPP Center said in a document shared with reporters. Of the new projects added to the PPP pipeline, six are at the national level while two are at the local level. Project KILO is the largest among the newly added projects, with an estimated cost of P163.94 billion. It is an unsolicited national project currently under evaluation by the Bureau of Corrections and privately proposed by ENDEC Development Corp. Two other national projects-the Operation and Maintenance of the Panguil Bay Bridge Project and the Public-Private Partnerships for School Infrastructure
Project Connect, do not have cost estimates yet as they are still under conceptualization. Meanwhile, the TUBO: A Tariff and Utility Blueprint for Water Operations, Model for the Iligan City Waterworks System is a solicited local project currently under development, with its cost yet to be determined. The Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. International Convention Center Project (P100 million) and the Cavite Bus Rapid Transit System (P1.87 billion) have been removed from the pipeline database following their award to contractors. They are now reflected in the PPP Center’s database of projects under implementation.
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 57.2370 n JAPAN 0.3838 n UK 74.3623 n HK 7.3667 n CHINA 7.9231 n SINGAPORE 43.0515 n AUSTRALIA 36.5287 n EU 62.5257 n KOREA 0.0397 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.2616 Source: BSP (March 18, 2025)