Philippines end-Nov budget deficit widens to P1.33T

The national government's budget deficit widened by almost a fourth year-on-year to P1.33 trillion as of end-November 2021.

This deficit is nearly matching the full-year fiscal gap in 2020, which was P1.37 trillion.

Despite faster-than-expected recovery in tax and non-tax revenues, government agencies' persistent underspending contributed to this widening deficit.

In November alone, the shortfall amounted to P128.7 billion, a slight increase from P128.3 billion in the same month last year.

Higher long-term interest rates and recent lockdowns earlier this year that reduced tax revenue collections but were offset by higher import tariff collections due to increased imports contributed to the wider deficit.