Gov’t spending still off target despite Q2 hike

Public spending is expected to rise 12.4 percent in the second quarter over year-ago levels, the Department of Budget and Management said yesterday.

“For the second quarter, we project that it is going to be 12.4 percent higher than second quarter last year. Those are the emerging numbers based on preliminary figures,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said in a briefing.

The government spent P505.175 billion in the second quarter of 2014, up 9.8 percent from the P459.95 billion recorded in the same period in 2013.

Abad’s estimate of a 12.4-percent growth from year- ago levels will translate to P567.82 billion in expenditures in the three months to June this year. This projection, however, is still short of the P669.4-billion target for the period.

“I think if we base it on year-on-year performance, I think we are confident that we are doing much better than last year,” Abad said.

“But if you base it in program versus actual, that’s where the challenge is because we have to set our targets high so that our performance also improves compared to last year,” he said.

Latest data from the Department of Finance showed the government recorded a budget surplus of P86.4 billion in the five months to May.

Government revenues amounted to P922.2 billion as of May, below the P935.072-billion goal for the period. Expenditures from January to May, meanwhile, amounted to P835.7 billion, also short of the government’s P1.06 trillion program.