The Finance Department has trimmed the combined collection goals of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Customs by P85 billion in light of the full impact of the global economic meltdown this year.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government instead will increase to borrowings from foreign and domestic creditors this year to fund the wider budget deficit this year.

The budget shortfall rose to P68.1 billion last year from P12.4 billion in 2007.

Teves said the government outperformed its revised budget deficit goal of P75 billion, or 1.0 percent of GDP.

The government expects a wider deficit of P177.2 billion, or 2.2 percent of GDP, this year from P68.1 billion or 0.9 percent of GDP last year. This is also P75.2 billion wider than the original ceiling of P102 billion, or 1.2 percent of GDP.

Teves said the expected combined tax take of the BIR and Customs had been reduced to P1.153 trillion, or about 14.3 percent of the gross domestic product, from P1.238 trillion, or 14.7 percent of GDP this year.

The target of the BIR was reduced by P45.2 billion to P865.5 billion from the revised assessment of P910.8 billion. Under the proposed 2009 budget, the BIR is tasked to collect P965 billion this year. It missed its P845-billion collection goal by a record P67 billion after raking in just P778.2 billion.

The government scaled down the revenue target of Customs by P39.8 billion to P277.2 billion instead of P317 billion. It was originally tasked to collect P310 billion this year. Customs exceeded its P254-billion collection goal by P6.2 billion last year after raising P260.4 billion.

Finance officials attributed the revised goals of the two agencies to the slowing domestic economy and revised macroeconomic assumptions, including lower inflation and the contraction of both exports and imports. Lawrence Agcaoili