DBM urges agencies to ramp up spending

GOVERNMENT agencies must ramp up budget distribution and spending as their budget utilization rate reached 90 PERCENT IN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF THE YEAR. “We all know that our national budget is the lifeblood of all government programs and projects. The faster we disburse and utilize our funds, the faster we can procure and implement our projects,” Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said.

According to a recent report on the utilization of notices of cash allocations (NCAs) for national government agencies and budgetary support to government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and local government units (LGUs) as of end-April 2023, the 90-percent utilization rate equates to P1.175 trillion of NCAs utilized for the period.

The national government, LGUs and GOCCs spent P1.18 trillion of the P1.3 trillion in NCA GIVEN IN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS, LEAVING P128.07 billion unused.

Budgetary support to GOCCs as well as allotments to LGUs, meanwhile, were all used.

“We want to remind our agencies to avoid underspending, given our very limited fiscal space. Again, we need to instill discipline in our national government agencies or we shall put the money to agencies that can really implement them,” Pangandaman reiterated.

“We have to remember, as early as the start of the year, we have emphasized that only implementation-ready proposals will be included in the 2024 budget,” she added.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has distributed P2.982 trillion, or 94.8 PERCENT OF THE ENTIRE AGENCY-SPECIFIC BUDGET TO various national government agencies as of April 30 this year.

In all, the DBM has issued P4.518 trillion, or 85.8 percent of the national budget of P5.268 trillion as of April 30.

NCAs are cash authority documents issued by the DBM to agencies or operating units through designated government servicing BANKS TO FULFILL THE AGENCIES’ CASH REQUIREMENTS for their projects and programs.