MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines' main tax office, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), will likely fall short of its November revenue target, the head of the agency said on Thursday, further widening the government's budget deficit.

The agency, which delivers around two-thirds of total revenue, found it hard to meet its targets this year because the economic slowdown ate into companies' profits.

Faced with a higher spending bill as it sought to stimulate the economy, Manila is widely expected to post a record 2009 fiscal shortfall of around P300 billion ($6.5 billion), above its target of P250 billion or 3.2% of GDP.

"We will miss our target in November," said Joel Tan-Torres, head of the BIR, adding the P80-billion target was among the highest for any month this year.

Tan-Torres said he did not yet know the magnitude of the November shortfall.

A Finance official said earlier this week the budget deficit this year may reach P320 billion, or about 4% of GDP, with expected asset sales to prop up revenues unlikely to happen before the year ends.