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‘Govt collects $12M more than last year’
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Posted on Aug 27 2005
The CNMI government has so far collected some $12 million more this fiscal year than in FY 2004, Finance Secretary Fermin M. Atalig said.
As of July 2005, total revenues have reached $189 million, Atalig said. During the same period last year, the government’s total collection was $177 million.
Atalig said the increase in collection was due to “increased economic activities.”
“We [had] more activities this year,” he said, noting that for business gross revenue alone, the government collected some $53 million this year compared with last year’s $43 million.
“If you look at the figures, you’ll see that we’re getting more revenues, that the economy is moving, unlike what our detractors are saying,” said Atalig.
This increased collection comes against a backdrop of a downsized garment industry due to the worldwide lifting of trade quotas as well as the current financial crisis besetting the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
Atalig said the garment user fee collection rate has been “a yoyo.”
“It all depends on what time of the month we collected. Some months, the end of the month falls on a holiday, so therefore the government did not collect on that holiday,” he said.
For July, garment user fee was down to $1.9 million compared with $2.1 million the previous month.
But Atalig noted that in July 2004, the collection was the same: $1.9 million.
“Basically it’s the same, its not as worse as the news media are portraying it to be,” he said.
Atalig further expressed confidence that the government would not incur any deficit this fiscal year.
“No. There will be no deficit. We are collecting. We have intensified our collection efforts. That also explains why we’re getting more revenues,” he said.
