The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are among the most improved agencies in terms capital spending, a socioeconomic planning official said on Tuesday.
“Actually, the more competent agency to answer this is really DBM (Department of Budget and Management). So, ang natatandaan ko lang doon is DPWH so in terms of the capital spending and then DSWD,” NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said on the most improved agency.
“So, iyong sa spending, ni-report ng DBM iyong naging progress natin na actually for this third quarter mataas ang naging spending ng mga ahensiya. Well, number one, nakapag-submit naman ng mga catch-up plans kaya nga for many of them naitaas talaga iyong spending for Q3,” she said.
According to Edillon, they are expecting that agencies could be able to catch up in expenditures, which could reflect in the end of September data.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. presided over a Palace meeting tackling government spending, food inflation, and non-food inflation.
The DBM presented to the President agency catch-up plans to fully utilize the budget, measures to address underspending, and spending outlook for the remainder of the year.
The low national government disbursements in the second quarter of this year were among the reasons for the less stellar economic performance for the period.
Among the measures carried out by agencies include the conduct of early procurement activities (EPA) to expedite the execution of procurement projects, provision of capacity building and training programs for procuring entities, adoption of the integrated financial management information system across all government agencies, and preparation of agency roadmaps.
Agencies are also issuing guidelines on fund release to include prioritization of big-ticket items and strict implementation of EPA, and also adopting digital payments for goods and services, including the distribution of financial assistance.
The top agencies with low budget utilization rates include the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), DSWD, Department of Energy (DOE), and Department of Tourism (DOT).
Spending as of end-September 2023 amounted to PhP3.82 trillion, an improvement from the PhP2.41 trillion recorded as of June 2023, but PhP40.90 billion short of the PhP3.86 trillion programmed.
By the end of the year, the DBM projects disbursements to reach PhP5.32 trillion, higher than the PhP5.23 trillion program and PhP5.16 trillion recorded last year. | PND
