Gov’t agencies given up to end of Q1 to submit 2018 budget proposals

The Department of Budget and Management has ordered government agencies to submit their respective budget proposals for 2018 on or before March 31, as the government intends to sustain the timely submission to Congress of the planned P3.84-trillion national budget.

In National Budget Memorandum No. 127 containing the budget call for fiscal year 2018, Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said details of the agencies’ approved budget ceilings and new spending proposals for next year must be submitted by the end of the first quarter.

For 2018, the government will pitch a record P3.84-trillion national budget, up 14.6 percent from the P3.35-trillion budget for this year, the Cabinet-level, interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) said in a report.

The proposed 2018 budget will represent 21.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), according to the DBCC.

In the memorandum, Diokno said the 2018 budget proposal must “sustain the President’s zero plus 10-point socioeconomic agenda.”

Including the “zero” in the 10-point agenda which is peace and order, the Duterte administration’s development blueprint was aimed at reducing poverty incidence to about 14 percent by 2022 from 21.6 percent last year.

Diokno said the 2018 budget should also “strengthen multi-year focus of the budget, including the acceleration of infrastructure spending from 5 percent of GDP.”

According to the DBCC, the national infrastructure program for 2018 would reach P1.199 trillion, equivalent to 6.8 percent of GDP.