Expect stronger spending in H2 – DBM

Public spending will further accelerate in the remaining months of the year as funding demand for infrastructure projects increase, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

“You can expect more acceleration in the third-quarter and fourth-quarter,” Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad told reporters noting the growth will be mainly driven by implementation of more infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

In April to June, government spending on infrastructure and capital outlay (CO) reached 81.8 billion, higher by 37.3 percent than levels posted in the previous year.

Faster disbursements for public infrastructure and CO during the quarter helped raise total spending to 567.9 billion, reflecting a 12.4-percent year-on-year increase and bringing government spending to 1.07 trillion in the first half of 2015.

“Second-quarter figures show that government spending is now at a steady and encouraging clip,” Abad said.

“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,” he added.

According to DBM, disbursements for infrastructure and CO were due largely to the higher requirements of infrastructure development programs under the DPWH.

The DPWH performed strongly in the second quarter, spending 8.83 billion over program, bringing their first semester spending figures to 4.434 billion in excess of program. Abad also noted that interest payments from April to June – amounting to 55.5 billion – contracted by 2 percent year-on-year, in view of the Administration’s drive to improve debt burden management.

“When we devote less of the budget to national debt, we can allocate more resources to anti-poverty 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,” Abad said.

“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,” he added.