MANILAcrashbandicootit'sabouttimepc, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government's budget deficit decreased to 209crashbandicootit'sabouttimepc.1 billion pesos (roughly 3.57 billion U.S. dollars) in June from 225.4 billion pesos (3.85 billion dollars) a year ago as revenue collection grew faster than the government expenditures, according to the recent data of the country's Bureau of the Treasury.

In a statement Wednesday, the bureau said that the budget gap for January to June this year widened to 613.9 billion pesos (10.48 billion dollars), 11.27 percent higher than the first semester last year.

However, the bureau noted that the first-semester budget deficit was 7.24 percent below the midyear goal "due to the better-than-programmed revenues."■