The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) today announced that government spending on infrastructure and capital outlay (CO) rose to P81.8 billion in the second quarter of the year, 37.3 percent higher than levels posted in the previous year.
Faster disbursements for public infrastructure and CO from April to June this year helped raise total spending to P567.9 billion in the second quarter, reflecting a 12.4-percent year-on-year increase and bringing government spending to P1.07 trillion in the first half of 2015.
“Second-quarter figures show that government spending is now at a steady and encouraging clip. Furthermore, infrastructure spending will continue to play a major role in firing up disbursements, as the Aquino administration sustains the expansion of public infrastructure in the country,” Budget and Management Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad said.
According to DBM, disbursements for infrastructure and CO were due largely to the higher requirements of infrastructure development programs under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The DPWH performed strongly in the 2nd Quarter, spending P8.83 billion over program, bringing their 1st Semester spending figures to P4.434 billion in excess of program.
“When we devote less of the budget to national debt, we can allocate more resources to antipoverty and economic development programs. In this manner, the National Budget can be truly responsive to the needs of the Filipino people,” Abad said.
The Budget chief also emphasized the need to ramp up agency expenditures in light of the Administration’s goal of rapid and sustainable economic growth.
“Vigorous and strategic government spending is key to driving economic progress. If we intend to sustain our country’s growth momentum, our departments and agencies will have to catch up with their spending targets and optimize their funds. We’ve already mobilized Full-time Delivery Units (FDUs) across major spending agencies so we don’t lose sight of our expenditure and program implementation targets,” Abad said.
SPENDING BY EXPENSE CLASSES
Maintenance and Other Operating Expenditures climbed by 16.2 percent to P93.2 billion in the second quarter of the year, as compared to levels posted from April to June last year. This was due mostly to the continuing expansion of the Aquino administration’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and Community Development Program under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Because of this, the DSWD spent P11.2 billion more than programmed in the 2nd Quarter, pulling their total 2015 spending up to P5.26 billion over program.
Personnel Services (PS) increased year-on-year by 20.7 percent in the second quarter, bringing PS disbursements to P186.4 billion for the period. The improvement is mostly on account of the release of the Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) to government employees in June, as well as the mid-year bonus distributed to government personnel earlier in May.
LGU allocations likewise jumped by 14.1 percent this year from last year’s P68.3 billion, hiking up local government allotments to nearly P78 billion in the second quarter of 2015. LGU allocations are composed largely of Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) shares and Capital Transfers, which have been amply supported by robust tax collection and the implementation of the excise tax reforms.
RSS