MANILA, Philippines - Taking back his initial budget gap projection for 2009, a senior finance official said Tuesday that the country's budget deficit likely fell below P300 billion last year.

"The shortfall is lower than P300 billion," Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said.

Last month, Beltran and Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the country's fiscal shortfall for 2009 likely hovered around P300 billion amid weak revenue collections and higher government spending.

Beltran, however, said stronger consumer spending during the holiday season has allowed the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to collect more from businesses last year.

BIR Commissioner Joel Tan-Torres has said that the tax bureau surpassed its P60-billion collection target in December, citing preliminary data. Similarly, the BOC has said that its 2009 shortfall may be lower than its initial estimate of P57 billion.

"The BOC expects its shortfall to hit just around P50 billion," Beltran said. The 2 agencies have yet to announce its final collection figures for December and for 2009.

The Philippines incurred a budget gap of P6.4 billion in November, bringing the deficit for the first 11 months to a higher-than-targeted P272.5 billion.

Weak revenues--due to revenue-eroding measures, slower economic growth, the negative impact of typhoons on tax collection, and lackluster privatization of assets--have been blamed for the country's swelling budget deficit in 2009.

Except for privatization, which is expected to pick up steam, the same factors are seen to push the budget deficit above the government's P233.4-billion goal this year.