Gov’t Q1 infra spending jumps 12.2%

Public spending on infrastructure rose 12.2 percent year-on-year to P117.5 billion in the first quarter as the government built more roads as well as health and military facilities, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

The latest DBM data showed that expenditures on infrastructure and other capital outlays during the first three months rose by more than a tenth from P104.8 billion a year ago.

“This is mostly on account of the implementation of road infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways and other capital outlay projects in the Department of Health and the Department of National Defense-Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the contribution to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB),” the DBM said in a report, referring to the P1.9-billion initial capital contribution to the China-led AIIB.

The Philippines is required to contribute to the AIIB a total of $200 million or over P9 billion in paid-in capital, payable in five tranches until 2019.

The Philippine government had officially proposed for AIIB co-financing a $500-million project which was aimed at preventing flooding in the National Capital Region, as documents showed that $150 million had been sought for the Metro Manila Flood Management Project.

In March alone, disbursements for infrastructure reached P47.8 billion, up 18.2 percent year-on-year and 36.3 percent month-on-month.

Last month, economic managers unveiled the administration’s “DuterteNomics” thrust of “Build, Build, Build” that they claimed would usher in a “golden age of infrastructure.”

The government plans to roll out more than P3.6 trillion in public infrastructure projects from 2018 until 2020 while also jacking up to 75 from 55 previously the number of so-called flagship, “game-changing” projects that the administration aims to start and complete before 2022.

Some P8 trillion to P9 trillion will be spent by the Duterte administration in the next six years to build vital infrastructure such that the share of infrastructure spending to GDP will rise from 5.3 percent this year to 7.4 percent in 2022.