MANILA, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government's budget deficit increased to 225.4 billion pesos (roughly 4 billion U.S. dollars) in June, marking a 4.58 percent year-on-year increase, the Bureau of Treasury said Friday.
The bureau said that the higher deficit was due to a 7.91 percent year-on-year drop in government receipts while expenditures contracted by 2.59 percent.
The cumulative budget gap for the six months dropped to 551.7 billion pesos (about 10 billion dollars), 18.17 percent lower than last year's shortfall due to the higher revenue out-turn for the period, added the bureau. ■