Gov’t spending up in Q2, but still below target

Government spending likely grew by 12.4 percent in the second quarter, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said on Tuesday, although the amount spent on public goods and services during the three-month period remained below target.

Citing preliminary figures, Abad said the second-quarter growth in expenditures was faster than the 4.5-percent increase posted in the first quarter.

“If we base it [second-quarter government spending] on year-on-year performance, we are confident that we’re doing much better than last year. [But] when you base it on program versus actual, that’s where the challenge is, because necessarily, we have to set our targets high,” the Budget chief said.

Abad declined to provide specific numbers, but computing a 12.4-percent jump from the P505.2-billion disbursements during the second half of last year would put this year’s figure at about P567.8 billion.

The projected government spending from April to June, however, fell below the P669.4 billion in disbursements programmed under the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s quarterly fiscal program for 2015.

Actual disbursements in April and May amounted to P156.5 billion and P175.2 billion, respectively. Total expenditures as of end-May reached P835.7 billion, up 6 percent from P786.6 billion a year ago.

Persistent “slow” spending by the government amid robust revenue growth widened the end-May surplus by 915 percent to P86.4 billion from only P8.5 billion last year.

The government targets a P283.7-billion deficit by yearend, as the amount of investments on public goods and services, especially vital infrastructure, should outpace strong revenue collection to support the growing economy.