Philippines posts $268.67m budget surplus in May

MANILA, June 26 (Xinhua): The Philippine government registered a budget surplus of 11.8 billion pesos (US$268.67 million) in May, the country's Department of Finance said Thursday.
The fiscal surplus last month was a reversal of the 13.16 billion pesos ($299.64 million) deficit recorded a year ago. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the national government posted a budget surplus for the second straight month in May.
"This was a result of the rapid growth of total revenues and tax revenues. (Last month), total revenues, tax collections and collections of the Bureau of Customs expanded at double-digit rates," said Purisima.
Collections of revenue-generating agencies went up by 11.8 per cent on year to 172.2 billion pesos ($3.92 billion) in May. In the first five months of the year, total revenues reached 795.1 billion pesos ($18.1 billion).
Last month, government spending declined by 4 per cent on year to 160.5 billion pesos ($3.65 billion). Total expenditures in January to May summed up to 786.6 billion pesos ($17.91 billion).
The January to May fiscal balance recorded a surplus of 8.5 billion pesos ($193.53 million), a reversal of the 42. 8 billion pesos ($974.52 million) deficit recorded in the first five months of 2013.