Infra spending up 31.4% to P46.2 billion in May

In this Aug. 12, 2015, photo, workers arrange metal rods at a government road project in Quezon City. Data from the Department of Budget and Management said infrastructure spending in May jumped to P46.2 billion. AP PHOTO/AARON FAVILA

Infrastructure spending jumped by almost a third to P46.2 billion in May as the government finished work on a number of road and flood control projects as well as bought military equipment, the latest Department of Budget and Management (DBM) data showed.

To make up for relatively slower spending during the first few months, the government programmed expenditures to reach P801.101 billion in the third quarter or 27.5 percent of the total for the year, the highest on a quarterly basis, the latest fiscal program for 2017 showed.

In a report, the DBM said disbursements on infrastructure and other capital outlays last May rose 31.4 percent from P35.2 billion during the same month last year as well as 38.1-percent higher than the P33.5 billion spent in April.

The DBM attributed the “strong” increase in infrastructure spending that month to “completed road construction, repair and rehabilitation, and flood control infrastructures implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways, as well as the requirements for the purchase of anti-submarine helicopters under the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program of the Department of National Defense.”

At the end of the first five months, expenditures on infrastructure and other capital outlays grew 8.1 percent to P197.2 billion from P182.4 billion a year ago.

In general, “disbursements are expected to gradually gather speed in the succeeding months,” the DBM said.

“Seasonally, spending usually picks up during the third month of the quarter as line agencies speed up the utilization of their notices of cash allocation before they lapse at the last working day of the quarter,” the DBM explained.

Also, “agencies are expected to implement catch up plans or measures to recover from the delays encountered in the earlier months and these could further improve their disbursement levels,” the DBM added.

In all, disbursements made by the national government as of end-May reached P1.06 trillion, up 6 percent from P1.001 trillion last year.

Based on DBM data, expenditures during the July to September period had been programmed to exceed the first quarter’s P646.026 billion, the second quarter’s P690.738 billion, as well as the fourth quarter’s P771.099 billion.

For 2017, expenditures were expected to total P2.909 trillion, equivalent to 18.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Spending on infrastructure and other capital outlays were programmed to amount P137.788 billion in the third quarter, lower than the fourth quarter’s P174.928 billion but more than the P108.903 billion and P127.741 billion during the first and second quarters, respectively.

During the third quarter, revenues were expected to hit P599.693 billion or 24.7 percent of the 2017 revenue program totaling P2.427 trillion equal to 15.3 percent of GDP.

The Bureau of Customs has been tasked to collect P119.187 billion in import duties and other taxes from July to September, while the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s tax take is projected to reach P434.962 billion.

For the third quarter, a budget deficit of P201.407 billion was programmed or 41.8 percent of the P482.085-billion deficit program for 2017, worth 3 percent of GDP. CBB