Philippine fiscal widens on sharp rise in public spending

Philippine fiscal deficit in the first two months of the year widened to 31.28 billion pesos (766. 67 million U.S. dollars) on a sharp rise in public spending, the finance department reported Wednesday.The budget gap in January to February 2012 was at 5.29 billion pesos (129.66 million U.S. dollars).The department said that disbursements in the months of January to February 2013 rose to 281.99 billion pesos (6.91 billion U.S. dollars) or six times more than last year's. This is in line with the government's commitment to invest more on public infrastructure through the Public Private Partnership program and support growth.Revenues, however, can't keep up with the increased spending. January-to-February revenues increased by only two percent on year to 250.72 billion pesos (6.14 billion U.S. dollars).Revenues in February alone declined 5.7 percent on year to 112. 35 billion pesos (2.75 billion U.S. dollars). The Bureau of Internal Revenue accelerated its collection activities by 8.5 percent, but the customs bureau's collections was almost unchanged from the level one year ago. Revenues collected by the Bureau of Treasury fell 65.4 percent on year owing to record low interest rates.