9-month infra spending exceeds target

The government spent P451.5 billion on public infrastructure from January to September, an amount higher than the nine-month program but below expenditures a year ago as some project funds were realigned into COVID-19 response at the height of the longest and most stringent lockdown in the region.

The latest Department of Budget and Management (DBM) data on Tuesday showed that end-September disbursements on infrastructure and other capital outlays exceeded the P430.9-billion target by 4.8 percent even as actual spending was 16.5-percent lower than the P540.7 billion during the first nine months of last year.

In the third quarter, infrastructure spending reached P153.5 billion, surpassing the P137-billion program by 12.1 percent but 33 percent below the P229.3 billion spent from July to September 2019.

During the month of September alone, infrastructure expenditures dropped by 39.9 percent to P56.9 billion from P94.7 billion a year ago, although 28.6 percent bigger than August’s P44.3 billion.

In a report, the DBM blamed the smaller infrastructure spending in September to base effects, pointing out that the government spent much more toward the end of last year under its catch-up program to reverse the underspending caused by the delayed approval of the P3.7-trillion 2019 national budget.

The DBM also blamed the lower amount spent on infrastructure during the July-to-September period to “the temporary suspension of construction activities in early August with the two-week modified enhanced community quarantine measure in place” in Metro Manila and four neighboring provinces accounting for half of the economy after medical front-liners sought a “timeout” when COVID-19 cases surged as economic activities gradually resumed.

The above-target third-quarter infrastructure disbursements were nonetheless attributed by the DBM to “the payment of accounts payables and continued implementation of construction activities by the Department of Public Works and Highways despite the existing health and safety protocols in place and the rainy season.”

For the last three months of this year, infrastructure spending is expected to be lower with the discontinuance of some capital outlay projects, which are unlikely to be completed nor implemented this year due to the pandemic, as well as the delays in construction activities in the earlier part of the year with the imposition of various community quarantine measures and implementation of COVID-19 health and safety protocols, the DBM said.

The government had programmed to spend P178.3 billion on infrastructure and other capital outlays during the fourth quarter to hit the P609.3-billion full-year goal, equivalent to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product.