Manila, Feb. 28 -- The government will double its efforts to maintain its good spending performance, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said on Friday, as she expressed elation over the 5.7-percent drop in budget deficit in 2024.

Pangandaman gave the assurance, after the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported Thursday that the budget deficit narrowed by 0.38 percent to PHP1.506 trillion as revenue growth outpaced spending.

As a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP), the deficit improved to 5.7 percent in 2024 from 6.22 percent in 2023, according to the BTr's release of the Cash Operations Report on the national government's full-year fiscal performance for 2024.

Pangandaman said she is "very pleased" with the report that the b...