Almost 80% of 2018 budget released in Jan.

As agencies are now required to spend their entire budgets within the year, releases in January jumped to 78.8 percent of the 2018 national budget, faster than a year ago, the latest Department of Budget and Management data showed.

At the start of the year, P2.97 trillion of the record P3.78-trillion budget was released, including continuing appropriations under the 2017 national budget and other automatic appropriations.

Last year, 65.7 percent of the smaller P3.35-trillion 2017 budget was released in January.

“The big difference is the way we prepare the budget. During budget preparation, departments/agencies were required to include programs/projects that are shovel-ready,” Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno explained in a text message yesterday.

“The specific budgets of departments/agencies are supported with more details, hence upon effectivity of the GAA [General Appropriations Act], those budgets are considered comprehensively released with the policy of the GAA as allotment order,” Diokno added.

Also, “with the one-year validity of the appropriations, agencies are more conscious of implementing the projects and programs at the beginning of the year,” Diokno said.

Previously, the annual budgets were allowed to be spent within as long as two years.

For funds under the 2018 general appropriations act or Republic Act No. 10964, allotment releases in January reached P2.043 trillion or 73.3 percent of the P2.786-trillion program.

Comprehensive releases to government departments that month amounted more than P2 trillion or 87.4 percent of the programmed P2.29 trillion.

As for special purpose funds, P38.6 billion or 7.8 percent of the P491.5 billion allotted for 2018 was released.

Automatic appropriations—programmed over a period prescribed by law through outstanding legislation requiring periodic action by Congress—worth P923.7 billion or 94.2 percent of the P980.8-billion program for this year were released in January.

These automatic appropriations included retirement and life insurance premium, internal revenue allotment for local government units, pensions of former presidents and their widows, special account in the general fund (including motor vehicle users charge fund), net lending, interest payments, as well as releases under the tax expenditures fund for custom duties and taxes to be paid for government importation.

As such, 78.8 percent or P2.967 trillion of the original program was released in January.

There were also P15.2 billion in other releases, including P9.04 billion from continuing appropriations for departments on top of P6.2 billion in other automatic appropriations.

The balance of P800.2 billion should be released before the end of the year.

The budgets released will be obligated by agencies for specific projects. Upon award of the projects, the allotted amounts will be disbursed for payments to contractors and suppliers.