90% of P4.1-T 2020 budget released as of April

Budget release quickened in April as the government fast-tracked funding for new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response, the latest Department of Budget and Management (DBM) data showed.

As of end-April, 90.1 percent or P3.69 trillion of the P4.1-trillion spending program for 2020 had already been released by the DBM.

To recall, end-March relea­ses amounted P3.22 trillion or 78.4 percent of program.

Amid the pandemic that forced a lockdown in many areas in the country to contain the spread of the disease, the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act allowed the realignment and the faster release of funds to better respond to the crisis.

For funds under the 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAA), or Republic Act No. 11465, allotment releases from January to April amounted P2.28 trillion or 80.1 percent of the adjusted P2.84-trillion program.

Comprehensive releases to government departments as of April reached P2.07 trillion or 86.8 percent of the programmed P2.38 trillion.

As for special purpose funds, P213.8 billion or 45.7 percent of the P463.9 billion allotted for 2020 had already been released.

The original budgets for departments and special purpose funds were slashed by P9.3 billion, which went to the special account in the general fund for COVID-19 purposes.

Automatic appropriations­—programmed over a period prescribed by law through outstan­ding legislation requiring periodic action by Congress—worth P1.24 trillion or 99.5 percent of the adjusted P1.26-trillion program for this year had been released as of April.

These automatic appropriations included retirement and life insurance premiums, internal revenue allotment for local government units, block grant for the newly formed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, pensions of former presidents and their widows, special account in the general fund, net lending, inte­rest payments, as well as relea­ses under the tax expenditures fund for customs duties and taxes to be paid for government importation.

The special account in the general fund saw its allotment increase to P21.8 billion from P12.5 billion originally, with P16.9 billion already released as of April.

Also released in the first four months was P167.9 billion, that included P48.5 billion from the 2019 continuing appropriations.

Releases from unprogrammed appropriations reached P118.5 billion plus P808.7 million in o­ther automatic appropriations for grants and donations (P322.9 million) as well as the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ modernization program (P485.8 million).

Among the releases from unprogrammed appropriations were P45.7 billion to the Department of Health and P51 billion to the Social Security System for the small business wage subsidy program.

President Duterte had extended the validity of the P3.7-trillion 2019 budget until this year as the approval of last year’s appropriations was late by four-and-a-half months.

Some P406 billion from the 2020 funds is still pending for release. INQ