THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) missed its P203.15-billion collection target in May as the economy slowed following the reimposition of stricter lockdown measures in National Capital Region Plus (NCR Plus).
The BIR fell short of its revenue goal by 8.93 percent, collecting only P185.01 billion, based on the final data shared by BIR Deputy Commissioner for Operations Arnel SD. Guballa with BusinessMirror.
The bureau’s collection target for May was its third biggest monthly goal for this year, next to P235.2 billion for April and P213 billion for November.
Despite missing its goal for May, BIR’s revenue take was still a 61.68- percent jump from P114.43 billion in the same month last year.
Guballa said BIR failed to hit its monthly target due to the “slowdown of the economy” as the government had to revert to stricter lockdown measures in NCR Plus to address the surge in Covid-19 cases.
Metro Manila and nearby provinces Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, and Bulacan were placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine from March 22 until April 11. After that, the government eased the restrictions in NCR Plus to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine from April 12 to May 14. NCR Plus was then placed under General Community Quarantine with heightened restrictions during the last two weeks of May.
From January to May this year, BIR also failed to hit its P901.94-billion collection target.
The bureau’s revenue take in the five-month period settled at P874.55 billion, below its collection goal by 3 percent.
Still, this is higher by 29.8 percent than the P673.73 billion collected in the same period a year ago.
Guballa remains optimistic BIR will still be able to hit the full-year 2021 collection goal of P2.081 trillion.
Last year, BIR collected P1.95 trillion, exceeding its downscaled revenue collection target of P1.686 trillion.
The government hopes to raise more revenues this year to cover the expected higher budget deficit. The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) now projects this to reach a new record high of 1.86 trillion or 9.3 percent of the country’s GDP.
The DBCC slashed its growth projection for the Philippine economy this year to 6 to 7 percent, from its previous forecast range of 6.5 to 7.5 percent—also due to the implementation of stricter lockdown measures in NCR Plus in the second quarter.
The Philippine Statistics Authority has reported that GDP contracted 4.2 percent in the first quarter of the year, marking the economy’s fifth consecutive quarter of decline.
To achieve the lower end of government’s GDP growth target, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua has said the economy needs to grow an average of 10 percent in the next three quarters.
For next year, the DBCC also downgraded its forecast for the country’s GDP growth to 7 to 9 percent, lower than its previous projection of 8 to 10 percent.
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