Budget reforms pushing PH toward ‘A’ rating

The Department of Budget and Management led by Secretary Amenah Pangandaman (second from the left) turns over to President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. (L) the Philippine Public Financial Management (PFM) Reforms Roadmap 2024-2028 in a ceremony at the Malacañan Palace. | Photo by DBM

Reforms in the government’s budget process, as a part of the governance aspect in the Public Financial Management Roadmap 2024-2028, will help the government to achieve the “A” level credit rating, the Department of Budget and Management said on Tuesday.

The government aims to attain an “A” credit rating by the end of the Marcos administration in 2028. To achieve this rating, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has advised that the government should prioritize macroeconomic stability, fiscal sustainability, and good governance.

“We have already put in place how to go about it. But the governance aspect, that’s another aspect that they (credit raters) look into,” Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said.

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The roadmap aims to transform how public funds are managed, thus modernizing the fiscal governance.

The DBM set an 11-core strategic focus areas such as: planning and budgeting linkage; cash management; public asset management; accounting and auditing; capacity development; digital public financial management (PFM); policy and legal framework; public procurement; disaster risk reduction and management; PFM for local government units; and monitoring and evaluation for public expenditure.

The roadmap will help the government to achieve “aggregate fiscal discipline, allocative efficiency, and operational efficiency.”

One of the issues impeding the budget utilization is the absence of clear traceability among the government’s Philippine Development Plan, its result matrices, public investment programs, and the approved budget.