Infra spending-to-GDP ratio doubled in 2018

In its first two-and-a-half years in office, the Duterte administration was already able to double the share of infrastructure spending in the economy and made it at par with those of the Philippines’ Asean neighbors, the Department of Finance said on Friday.

In a statement, Finance Undersecretary and chief economist Gil Beltran said the country’s infrastructure expenditures-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio already climbed to 5.5 percent last year from an average of 2.8 percent in the last 50 years.

The rest of the Asean-5, which also included Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, had about 5-percent infrastructure spending-to-GDP ratios.

Beltran said the government wanted to further jack up infrastructure investments so their share to GDP would reach up to 7 percent by 2022.

The Duterte administration’s ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program aims to jump-start 75 “game-changing” flagship projects worth at least P2.18 trillion—with about a third expected to be finished within the President’s term, to usher in a “golden age of infrastructure.”

The latest National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) report as of April showed that 46 of the Build, Build, Build projects amounting to P1.56 trillion were currently in the implementation stage.

Twenty-four big-ticket projects worth P527.98 billion were under development, while five projects worth P84.29 billion were up for review, the Neda data showed.

Beltran said the “steady revenue stream” from the comprehensive tax reform program would sustain financing for the massive infrastructure push.

“Fiscal policy has been the Achilles’ heel of the Philippine economy, at least as regards to macroeconomic stability. Our past tax measures were largely passed to stave off brewing fiscal imbalances. Now that our fiscal position is in a much better footing, it is time to turn our gaze toward growth and equity,” Beltran said.