The national government posted a budget deficit of P37.1 billion in January, lower compared to P38.1 billion it incurred in the same period last year, the Department of Finance (DoF) said Thursday.

In a statement, Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves, said the government is pleased to have started the year with an improved fiscal performance due to higher revenue collections of the country's two tax collection agencies.

In January, total revenue collections reached P92.3 billion, higher by 18 percent compared to the same period of last year’s P78.5 billion.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) registered a growth of 17 percent and 22 percent, respectively, compared to last year.

During the month, the BIR has collected P64.6 billion, while Customs generated P17.6 billion, and the Bureau of the Treasury income was recorded at P5.2 billion.

Collections from other offices, however, amounted to P4.9 billion.

“We hope to sustain this in the coming months with the continued vigorous implementation of the action plans of the BIR and BoC plus, hopefully, additional revenues from our privatization efforts,” Teves said.

Meanwhile, total expenditures in January amounted to P129.4 billion, an increase of 4 percent against the disbursements in January 2009.

Netting out the interest payments in the expenditures, the national government recorded a primary surplus amounted to P0.5 billion as compared to the primary deficit recorded last year.

This year, the government is expecting to end with a financing gap of P293.2 billion, or a budget gap of 3.7 percent against the country's economic output.