Manila, Apr 3 (IANS): The Philippine government's year-on-year budget deficit slightly increased by 0.54 per cent to 106.4 billion pesos ($1.95 billion) in February, the Bureau of Treasury said on Monday.

The fiscal performance was mainly attributed to a marginal 0.25 per cent decrease in revenue collection, coupled with the flat expenditure outturn during the period, Xinhua news agency quoted the Bureau as saying.

It added that the deficit in the first two months fell down by 53.07 per cent to 68.6 billion pesos compared to the same period in 2022.

According to the Bureau, government revenue collections amounted to 211.9 billion pesos in February, down by 0.25 per cent from a year ago due to a 3.01 per cent decline in tax revenues.

On the other hand, the resulting cumulative collection for the two months improved by 14.18 per cent to 560 billion pesos, of which 88.87 per cent was from taxes.

The Bureau also said February's expenditures were relatively flat at 318.2 billion pesos compared to a year ago.