National Government posted a budget deficit of P298.5 billion for 2009 and a shortfall of P26 billion for December alone.

Department of Finance (DoF) Secretary Margarito B. Teves said the deficit was higher due to shortfalls in tax collections, losses of P49 billion from revenue-eroding measures and higher spending in infrastructure.

For the month of December alone, expenditures for infrastructure and capital outlay amounted to P21 billion from P5 billion in November which offset the gains in tax collections for the last month of the year.

The DoF were also able to collect P13.8 billion from government owned and controlled corporations and financial institutions, more than program of P4 billion.

In 2009, total revenues collected amounted to P1.1 trillion, lower than program of P115.9 billion. Of total revenues, the Bureau of the Internal Revenue (BIR) reported tax collections of P750.3 billion which was P48.3 billion less than program. In the meantime the Bureau of Customs collected P220.3 billion, lower than program by P53 billion because of imports decline. The Bureau of the Treasury on the other hand posted an income of P69.9 billion.

Teves said that for December, BIR collected P101.5 billion while BoC contributed P18.9 billion.

"The full-year deficit was higher than our likely scenario of a budget gap of P290.2 billion announced earlier since we're hoping to perform better than the likely scenariob due to improved tax collections in December," explained Teves. "But the revenue gains were offset by the increased spending in infrastructure."

"Still we remained below what the market expected and we continue to be concerned that our fiscal gains are being quickly eroded by legislation of revenue-eroding measures," he added.

Teves said earlier that they would like to cap the number at P300 billion, which was P50 billion over the original program for the year.

For this year, the DoF is also adjusting the fiscal program due to increase in spending. "We’re making adjustments to address urgent needs (for the government)," said Teves. The government is maintaining its earlier announced deficit of P293 billion.

The original program was P233.4 billion but the Development Budget Coordinating Committee re-set it to P293 billion because of higher borrowings of $2.5 billion.