Infra, capital spending soars to P40B in April

INFRASTRUCTURE and capital spending by the government increased to P40.1 billion in April, but failed to boost the year- to- date tally, data from the Department of Budget and Management ( DBM) showed on Wednesday.

In its latest disbursement report, the Budget department said the amount was a 41.9- percent surge from P28.3 billion in April 2019, but smaller than the P62.2 billion spent in March this year.

January- to- April spending, meanwhile, declined by 4.9 percent to P196.2 billion from P206.4 billion a year earlier.

The DBM attributed the April figure to the construction of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) quarantine facilities and purchase of medical equipment for the Department of Health; acquisition of transport equipment under the Revised AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Modernization Program of the Department of Defense; and implementation of regular road infrastructure programs of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

For the first four months, the Budget department said the reduced spending was “due to the base effect of high infrastructure expenditures in the same period last year, brought about by the payment of prior years’ accounts payables, and the suspension of construction activities due to the implementation of [ the] enhanced community quarantine ( ECQ).”

To contain the spread of the coronavirus in the country, the government imposed the Luzonwide ECQ from March 17 to April 30.

The latest data was released a day after Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd tagged the government’s infrastructure program as one of the engines of growth for the Philippine economy.

The four- month infrastructure and capital outlay figure put total national government spending — which included expenditures for maintenance, personnel services and subsidies — at P1.31 trillion, up 31.1 percent or P311.1 billion from the amount in the same period a year ago.

In an outlook, the DBM said spending for the rest of the second quarter “is still expected to be mostly driven by Covid19-related expenditures,” specifically the releases for the second tranche of the Social Amelioration Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Small Business Wage Subsidy Program under the Social Security System.

The transition from ECQ to general community quarantine and the “new normal” in some local government units, as well as the easing of restrictions on establishment operations and the construction sector by the Inter- Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, “is a welcome development,” it added.

“This should facilitate the resumption of construction activities of the DPWH and the Department of Transportation, so they can speed up the implementation of public infrastructure projects, with the intention to catch up with the unintended delays during the ECQ.”