How bloated is the 2006 budget?

The Philippine's national government (NG) got what it wanted from Congress (House of Representatives + the Senate) for its spending spree -- a P1.053 trillion budget for 2006 ($20.64 billion at P51/us$). This is about 17.2 percent of the projected P6.1 trillion GDP this year. The 2006 budget is 14.7 percent higher than the 2005 budget (P918.6 billion), and 21.5 percent higher than the 2004 budget (P867.0 billion).

If we include additional spending by local government units (LGUs), financed by locally-generated revenues like real property tax, business permit tax, other local taxes and fees, the figures will be higher. For this computation, LGU share of national government tax collections through the internal revenue allotment (IRA) is not included because they are already included in national government expenditures.

LGUs' non-IRA revenues for 2006 is P75.7 billion, and P67.9 billion in 2005.So, combinining NG budget + LGUs additional revenues for 2006, it'sP1.053 trillion + P76 billon = P1.129 trillion, or 18.5 percent of the projected GDP this year.

Now. these figures are still understated. If we include collections by various other government agencies, like the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for various fees and charges (ex. business or NGO registration at the SEC), the figures should be higher.