The government’s infrastructure spending in the first quarter of the year rose by 25.1 percent, data released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed.
According to the national government’s disbursement performance report for the first quarter posted on the DBM website, expenditures for infrastructure and other capital outlays amounted to P195.2 billion in January to March.
This figure is P39.1 billion higher than the P156.1 billion recorded in the same period a year ago.
The DBM said the disbursements for infrastructure came largely from the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) road infrastructure program and direct payments made to suppliers by foreign creditors for foreign assisted projects, such as the Metro Manila Subway Program Project and the Davao City By-Pass Construction Project.
“Although the growth in infrastructure and other capital outlays may be partly due to base effects, the increase in infrastructure disbursements for Q1 this year of P39.1 billion was enough to completely offset the P22.1 billion reduction recorded in Q1 last year,” the DBM said.
“It also recovered from the negative growth recorded in the preceding two quarters of 33 percent in Q3 and 32.7 percent in Q4 2020,” it added.
In March alone, infrastructure and other capital outlays rose to P87.8 billion, 41.1 percent larger than last year’s P62.2 billion.
The DBM said this was largely propelled by the payment for completed and partially completed infrastructure projects of the DPWH nationwide such as construction, repair and rehabilitation of access, by-pass and diversion roads, bridges, and flood mitigation structures and drainage systems.
For the first three months of the year, the national government’s total disbursements posted a growth rate of almost 20 percent year-on-year to close at P1.02 trillion.
This compares to the 9.2 percent annual growth recorded for the first quarter of last year at the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The DBM said disbursements for the second quarter are still expected to be mostly driven by COVID-19 related expenditures, specifically with the release of allotments for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines, and the financial assistance to National Capital Region Plus due to the recent implementation of the enhanced community quarantine.
“The downloading of program subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations based on submitted requests, as well as the ongoing construction projects of the DPWH will further boost spending for the period,” the agency said.
