Infrastructure spending hits P136 billion in May

MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos administration jacked up its infrastructure spending in May by more than 31 percent to P136 billion primarily to fund the construction of roads, bridges and other buildings, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

Based on the latest national government disbursement performance report of the DBM, state infrastructure expenditure and other capital outlays jumped by 31.4 percent to P136.4 billion in May from P103.8 billion in the same period last year.

The DBM attributed this mainly to the more significant disbursements of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the construction of roads, bridges, flood control structures, hospitals and multi-purpose buildings.

The growth of infrastructure outlays was also driven by the Department of National Defense via its Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program.

Development partners also made direct payments for the Department of Transportation’s South Commuter Railway Project.

For the first five months, infrastructure spending picked up by nearly 22 percent to P472.1 billion from P387.8 billion a year ago.

The DBM said this was due to the expedited completion of DPWH projects and the prompt processing of payment claims.

Meanwhile, overall government spending for May was 22.2 percent higher at P557 billion from P455.7 billion a year ago.

Apart from infrastructure, the government recorded higher maintenance and other operating expenses to P103 billion due to social protection programs, medical assistance for indigent patients, emergency allowances of healthcare workers and free education programs.

Combined allotment and capital transfers to local government units went up 8.5 percent to P81.3 billion on higher tax allotments due to the Mandanas Ruling.

The tax revenue base, from which the tax allotment shares of LGUs this year is determined, was the actual tax collections in 2021 when the economy started recovering.

Interest payments also increased by almost 50 percent to P61.1 billion due to reissuance, additional issuances and coupon payments for fixed-rate Treasury bonds and retail T-bonds, as well as the effect of higher T-bill rates.

An increase in government spending was similarly noted in subsidy support to government corporations, which jumped 32 percent to P9.7 billion mainly for the implementation of irrigation systems restoration and development programs.

As of end-May, the remaining program balance amounts to P653.1 billion or 11.3 percent of the record P5.768 trillion 2024 budget.

According to the DBM, disbursements for the coming months will continue to be supported by the growth of infrastructure and maintenance expenditures.

To facilitate budget execution and support line agencies with their projects, the DBM said it had released the notices of cash allocation for the second half corresponding to the agency operating requirements and based on their calibrated DBM-evaluated monthly disbursement programs.

“Additional NCAs shall be released as necessary based on the request of the concerned agencies and subject to the submission of required documentation, actual disbursement outturns and balances from available NCAs, if any,” the DBM said.