Latest data showed direct government spending on infrastructure amounted to 148.3 billion pesos or about US$2.6bil in the January-February period. — The Philippine Inquirer
MANILA: Government spending on infrastructure surged by 23.1% in the first two months of this year, but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) says the election-related spending ban could slow disbursements in the next few months.
Latest data from DBM showed direct government spending on infrastructure had amounted to 148.3 billion pesos or about US$2.6bil in the January-February period, higher by 27.8 billion pesos compared with the year-ago amount of 120.5 billion pesos.
That formed part of the state’s total capital outlay amounting to 187 billion pesos, a 7% increase year-on-year.
Explaining the “robust” increase in infrastructure spending, the DBM credited the disbursement performance of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), whose projects included the construction and/or maintenance of roads, bridges, flood control structures and multi-purpose buildings.
The DPWH was able to complete carryover infrastructure projects and pay for emergency and disaster-related civil works, the DBM said.
The department also finished right-of-way settlements and expedited the processing of accounts payable.
Direct payments made by development partners like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for foreign-assisted projects also helped sustain the strong infrastructure disbursements during the first two months of the year.
Moving forward, DBM said government spending in March likely improved as government agencies were expected to have used the remaining cash allocations that had been fully credited during the first quarter of the year. But the situation might be different for April.
“Spending for April is expected to temporarily slow down as the election-related prohibition might impede the implementation of some programmes and projects,” the budget department said.
“Nevertheless, as seen in similar election periods, disbursements pick up strongly toward the latter part of May to June after the election ban is lifted,” it added.
Dissecting the rest of the DBM’s report, capital transfers to local government units (LGUs) to fund their respective infrastructure undertakings fell by 28.8% to 38.6 billion pesos due to “variations” in the timing of releases of LGUs shares of national taxes.
No amount was given to state-owned corporations as equity for their projects in the first two months of the year.
The Marcos administration is targeting to bring infrastructure spending to 2.1 trillion pesos, or 5.8% of gross domestic product, by the end of its term in 2028. — Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
