Government spending up 10-16% in Q4

Government spending jumped by 10-16 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, speeding up economic growth during the period, according to Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad.

Expenditures on infrastructure, meanwhile, increased by about 13 percent between October and December, Abad told reporters late Tuesday, without disclosing specific figures.

Based on Department of Budget and Management data, a 16-percent growth in disbursements during the fourth quarter would be equivalent to about P609.6 billion spent on public goods and services.

The estimated figure spent between October and December exceeded the P525.5 billion in actual expenditures during the fourth quarter of 2014, but would be below the program of almost P652 billion. This means that the increase in government spending still failed to catch up with the amount needed to support economic growth during the period.

The latest Treasury data showed that as of end-November, disbursements rose 13 percent year-on-year to P1.99 trillion, although the amount was 15-percent lower than the program as slow spending persisted. The government was programmed to spend a total of P2.56 trillion in 2015.

As for infrastructure spending, a 13-percent rise in the fourth quarter would be equivalent to nearly P91.1 billion, higher than the P80.6 billion spent by the government on vital infrastructure a year ago but lower than the program of P142.2 billion.

Abad said that while the national government’s expenditures accounted for only a “very small part” of economic growth, the robust jump in spending would nonetheless help push the gross domestic product (GDP) expansion faster during the fourth quarter.

Asked if growth could have hit the “realistic” projection of 6 percent in end-2015, Abad replied that “there is reason to hope that it will be as robust considering that [the fourth quarter] was Christmas season, and ahead of election season, and traditionally everybody rushes to close their books so they spend as much at the end of the year.”

Abad said he believed that the GDP expanded faster during the last three months than the first three quarters.

He said the government remained optimistic that the economy could have grown by 6.9 percent during the fourth quarter to lift the full-year figure to 6 percent. Economic growth during the first three quarters of last year averaged only 5.6 percent. Economic managers had conceded that the official target of 7-8 percent growth for 2015 could not be achieved.