Unprogrammed funds raise 2024 budget to P5.93 trillion

MANILA, Philippines — The government has made adjustments anew to the national budget by about P164 billion, entirely for unprogrammed appropriations, to reach a record P5.93 trillion for this year.

Latest data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed that the adjusted program for the year has been set at P5.932 trillion as of end-October.

The amount is P164.08 billion above the programmed P5.768 trillion budget. The entire additional fund went to unprogrammed appropriations.

Unprogrammed appropriations provide standby authority to incur additional agency obligations for priority programs or projects when revenue collection exceeds targets, and when additional grants or foreign funds are generated.

The DBM started adjusting the national budget with an initial P65 billion last month. Last year, the total adjustments reached P374.39 billion.

Of the additional funds, the bulk or roughly 36.93 billion was for infrastructure and social program assistance of the Department of Agriculture, Department of Public Works and Highways and Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Some P10 billion was allocated to the Department of Health for its priority social programs and social welfare and development.

About P5.97 billion served as payment of personnel benefits for about 35 departments and agencies.

Another P5 billion went to government counterpart of foreign-assisted projects of the National Irrigation Administration.

There was also P2.96 billion earmarked to support the foreign-assisted projects of the Department of Transportation.

Some 31 agencies, likewise, received P2.77 billion as part of the Pension and Gratuity Fund.

About P900 million was for the financial subsidy for the purchase of photovoltaic mainstreaming for rural electrification of the National Electrification Administration.

Under the 2024 General Appropriations Act, unprogrammed appropriations increased to P731.4 billion from the original proposal of P281.9 billion. This means that lawmakers inserted P449.5 billion during the bicameral conference committee.

Based on the National Expenditure Program for 2025, the DBM proposed that unprogrammed funds be at P158.7 billion, 78 percent lower than this year’s level.

The figure is just 2.5 percent of the total expenditures for 2025, significantly lower than the 12.7 percent share in this year’s budget.