The government’s infrastructure disbursement in the first semester fell below program by 1.5 percent, according to the Department of Finance.
Citing preliminary data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno’s presentation in a press briefing last Friday showed that the government’s infrastructure disbursement in January to June amounted to P608.7 billion.
This is P9.4 billion short of the half-year program of P618.1 billion.
Year-on-year, it recorded a growth rate of 2.6 percent from the P593.2 billion infrastructure disbursement in the same period in 2022.
The Bureau of the Treasury earlier reported that the government underspent in the first half of the year, with total expenditures missing the program by 6.6 percent or P170.5 billion.
This, among other factors, dragged growth in the second quarter of the year to 4.3 percent.
According to the DBM, the underspending is caused by substantial outstanding checks worth P124.1 billion as reported by government-servicing banks; lower-than-programmed interest payments; ongoing registration and validation of beneficiaries; procurement-related difficulties such as late delivery of goods and failed biddings due to withdrawal or disqualification of bidders, unavailability of competent suppliers, and lack of or late submission of supporting documents, among others.
Diokno, during Friday’s briefing, cited the DBM’s analysis that the growth rate in the second quarter could have increased by around another percentage point had there been better disbursements.
Some government agencies with low budget utilization rates, such as the Department of Information and Communications Technology, are proposed to have lower budgets in 2024 as their low budget utilization rates were taken into account.
Had Diokno had his way, however, he preferred to remove heads of underspending departments instead of budget cuts.
“When I was budget secretary, (my policy was) use it or lose it. I really was very strict. You have to be conscious and you have to talk to your budget officers. Don’t let your budget officers run the show, you should know your budget and where it is being spent,” Diokno said.
“I think, it’s unfair to reduce the budget of the department, because it’s the people that will suffer. Might as well remove the official,” he suggested.
In a circular letter, the DBM has instructed agencies to submit catch-up plans and to expedite spending in the second semester.
“I don’t see why we can’t catch-up, because usually there’s really a catch-up in the second half of the year,” Diokno said.
