Gov’t infra spending up 60% in Jan-April

Ahead of the elections in May, the Aquino administration ramped up infrastructure spending in the first four months of the year, such that expenditures rose 60.3 percent year-on-year to P147.2 billion.

The latest Department of Budget and Management (DBM) data showed that the government’s expenditure on public infrastructure and other capital outlays from January to April increased from P91.9 billion a year ago.

The amount spent by the government on public infrastructure as of the end of April accounted for 23.6 percent of the full-year program.

In April alone, spending on infrastructure and other capital outlays jumped 82.1 percent to P42.5 billion from P23.3 billion a year ago.

Expenditures on public infrastructure in April was also up 5 percent from P40.5 billion in March.

“The upswing (in the April infrastructure spending) was brought about by the implementation of programs under the National Road Network Services of the Department of Public Works and Highways, which include preventive maintenance of national highways, rehabilitation or reconstruction and upgrading of damaged national roads,” the DBM said in a report.

The hike in infrastructure expenditure that month “was also due to the ongoing modernization of defense assets of the Department of National Defense (DND)-Armed Forces of the Philippines (PNP) with the purchase of FA50 aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters, as well as the capability upgrading program of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Philippine National Police (PNP),” the DBM added.

The Duterte administration intends to hike the share of infrastructure expenditure to gross domestic product (GDP) to 5 percent. As of the third quarter of last year, the infrastructure spending-to-GDP ratio was at 2.55 percent, also lower than the full-year program of 4 percent for 2015. Ben de Vera