Puerto Rico reported February net revenues that were 8.5% above projections.
The government, which plans to sell as much as $3.5 billion of debt later this month, had projected that it would receive $613 million in February. Instead preliminary General Fund net revenues were $670 million, the government reported March 4.
Puerto Rico's economy has been in a recession for most of the past seven years, and its debt was downgraded to below investment grade this year by the three main credit rating agencies.
The government, as part of its efforts to reduce its deficit, adopted a series of tax increases in June that have led to increased tax collections.
In early February the Treasury revised its monthly projections for the second half of the fiscal year. The total revenues expected for the fiscal year changed by 0.1%. Based on the Treasury's experience with the new tax measures in the first half of the year, some of the months' projections had significant revisions.
At the start of the fiscal year the Treasury had originally projected it would collect $664 million in net revenues for February. The figure announced March 4 was 0.9% higher than that.
For the first eight months of the current fiscal year, net revenues came in 1.9% above the projections announced in early February.
For the same first eight months, net revenues are 10.2% higher than they were in fiscal year 2013.
Revenues from the excise tax on foreign corporations subject to Act 154 were $172.7 million in February, about $32 million, or 23% more than last year.
Revenues from the corporate income tax were $33.6 million. This is about $13 million, or 64% higher than the same month in 2013.
Withholding to nonresidents decreased by $95 million in the month from a year earlier. However, February 2013 collections in this category included $110 million in revenues from advanced payments by several companies that did not recur this year.
This lack of advanced payments contributed to general fund net revenues being down $48 million, or 6.6%, in the month from February 2013.
Sales and use tax revenues came in at $2.4 million, or 2.5%, higher than in February 2013. However, this was $6.5 million, or 6%, under projections.
In other Puerto Rico news, Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla signed a bill that will lower the deficit this fiscal year to $650 million from $820 million. The governor is cutting the deficit by reducing appropriations in the fiscal year by $170 million.
