Diokno: Revenue collections to surpass pre-pandemic levels this year

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno is confident that revenue collections will surpass pre-pandemic levels this year, in light of higher economic activity that is supported by effective tax administration.

According to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr), the government’s January to October 2022 total revenue collections reached PHP2.9 trillion—an 18.3 percent increase from the same period in 2021.

“We are now at 89 percent of our full-year target. Given this, we expect revenue collections to surpass pre-pandemic levels this year,” said Secretary Diokno during the BusinessWorld Economic Forum at the Grand Hyatt Manila on November 29, 2022.

Of the year-to-date (YTD) collections, PHP2.6 trillion or 90 percent were from taxes, while PHP299.5 billion came from non-tax revenue sources.

The BIR’s YTD revenue collections increased by 12.6 percent to PHP1.9 trillion year-on-year (YoY). Meanwhile, the BOC’s YTD revenue collections rose by 35.8 percent to PHP713.5 billion compared to the same period in 2021.

To sustain these hard-earned gains, the government is implementing the country’s first-ever Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF). This serves as the country’s blueprint for fiscal sustainability for the next six years.

The Framework proposes measures that will improve tax administration, enhance the fairness and efficiency of the tax system, and promote sustainability to address climate change.

The fiscal strategy will help bring down the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio to less than 60 percent by 2025, and further down to 51 percent by 2028. Furthermore, it will cut the deficit-to-GDP ratio to 3 percent by 2028.