National Government (NG) cash expenditures for the period January-September 2021 increased to P3.4 trillion, but at a slower growth rate of 11.7% (Table 1). Expenditure-to-GDP (as of the 3rd quarter) grew by 1.5 percentage points to 25.3% from the same period in 2020. Note that NG spending in 2019 was only at 18.6% of a much higher GDP before the pandemic. Although revenue increased by 4.4% in 2021 after a steep decline in 2020, the deficit-to-GDP ratio still rose to 8.5% from 6.9%.
