DOE, Congress absorb least budget allotment

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) and Congress absorbed the least amount of remaining outlays last year, showing how agencies still struggled to spend despite a two-year high disbursement growth.

Only 21.47 percent of remaining DOE allotments were obligated by Dec. 31, 2015, while Congress only managed 29.3 percent, preliminary data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed.

The figures were way behind the average agency absorption rate of 81.24 percent, down 85.62 percent a year ago.

Obligated outlays are allotments which were not actually spent last year, but could still be funded by the current budget.

In essence, remaining allotments were already shelved when the year ended. The obligation rate is also referred to as the absorptive capacity of agencies.

“We’ve had an improvement in spending in 2015, although the process has been a painful one as we’ve waited to the last minute to get things together,” said Nicholas Antonio Mapa, an economist at Bank of the Philippine Islands.

“With the fiscal space and the interest rate environment, we truly could have done more to ready for the years to come,” he said in a phone interview.

The DBM has come under fire for persistently spending below target last year, although it was able to catch up and capped 2015 with 13-percent expansion.

While he cannot be reached for comment yesterday, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad had consistently said that offices are the ones slowing down on spending, not the DBM.

Once allotted, agencies already get hold of their budgets which they could spend on programs and projects.

DOE and Congress officials have likewise not responded to queries.

Mapa said low obligations meant the government acted “a little too little and too late” on fast tracking spending to support economic growth last year.

“If we gauge them on the opportunity available to them, they truly could have done much more,” he added.

Following DOE and Congress, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) had the next lowest obligation rate at 56.02 percent.

“The low spending of the DOTC is no surprise as we’ve seen the utter lack of performance. The five-hour brownout at NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) 3 is just one example,” Mapa said.

Other below-average spenders were the departments of Finance (68.58 percent), Social Welfare and Development (76.34 percent), Public Works and Highways (76.46 percent), and National Economic and Development Authority (72.8 percent).