July infra spending up 92.9% led by DPWH, AFP

INFRASTRUCTURE spending in July nearly doubled as agencies played catch-up with their expenditures although the total still fell short of the government’s target for the month, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said in a statement.

Public spending on infrastructure hit P38.3 billion, up 92.9% from a year earlier. The amount, however, was 16.7% short of the P45.98 billion programmed for the month.

July also marked a turnaround from last year’s contraction of 27.9% for infrastructure spending.

“The upsurge in infrastructure and CO ( capital outlay) disbursements was due mostly to the ongoing implementation of road work projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH),” DBM said in a statement.

“The increase was also on account of the acquisition of aircraft units under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program of the Department of National Defense, as well as the implementation of local infrastructure projects in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” it added.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad was quoted as saying in the statement the spending acceleration reflected agencies’ effort to implement the government’s catch- up measures after a slow start this year.

“Earlier this year, the Aquino administration through the DBM established catch-up measures so our departments could accelerate their disbursements. We’re pleased to see that our major spending agencies are responding very well,” Mr. Abad said.

“What this really means is that our leading agencies for infrastructure programs are making better use of their budgets. As a result, more goods and services are being rolled out to the public, and in better time,” he added.

Spending on other budget items also increased: maintenance and other operating expenditures grew 70.1% to P36.6 billion; allotment to local government went up 16.3% to P33.2 billion; and personnel services increased by 8.8% to P46.5 billion.

Interest payments rose 10.1% to P53.1 billion.

Going forward, Mr. Abad told reporters last week public spending numbers would further pick up throughout the year.

“This year is going to be different for two reasons: we have interventions to accelerate it further… and the last semester, especially last quarter, is really the run up to elections next year,” Mr. Abad said.

“People now realize that it will not be wise to carry over projects because the election ban starts in February,” he added.

Meanwhile, allotment releases of this year’s P2.606- trillion obligation budget stood at 89.1% or P2.322 trillion, slightly slower than the 89.3% pace last year.

Budget releases to departments stood at 95.5% or P1.274 trillion out of the P1.334 trillion program.

“Most of the work was done at the very beginning of the year, thanks to the GAA (General Appropriations Act)- as- ReleaseDocument regime. Allotments that were tagged for later release were also made available to agencies that had complied with their fund release requirements,” Mr. Abad was quoted as saying in a statement.