The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it has released 91.4 percent of the full-year obligation program as of end-August.
In a statement yesterday, the DBM said P3.35 trillion of the P3.66-trillion 2019 obligation program has been released as of August 31.
“The immediate release of funds… will ensure that national government agencies are able to swiftly implement their programs and projects, such as the construction of new roads, schools, and hospitals, and the protection and promotion of the welfare of the poor and marginalized sectors, among others,” the DBM said.
Allotment releases to the line departments amounted to P1.97 trillion. These include funds allocated for agencies in the Executive branch, Congress, the Judiciary and other constitutional offices.
Releases from Special Purpose Funds (SPFs) amounted to P244.64 billion. These are budgetary allocations in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for specific socio-economic purposes such as budgetary support to government corporations, allocation to local government units (LGUs), contingent fund, miscellaneous personnel benefits fund, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management fund, and pension and gratuity fund.
The DBM also said allotment releases for automatic appropriations, or appropriations programmed annually or for some other period prescribed by law, inched up to P1.07 trillion, corresponding to 99.7 percent of the 2019 program for automatic appropriations.
These include 100 percent of the 2019 program for the Internal Revenue Allotment of LGUs, pension of ex-president/ex-president widows, net lending, interest payments, and tax expenditures fund/customs duties and taxes.
Moreover, some P2.639 billion in additional payments for retirement and life insurance premium requirements was released for newly-created or -filled positions in various agencies, resulting in a 105.6 percent release for the category.
The DBM has also released P24.778 billion as of end-August from the continuing appropriations of the 2018 GAA for line departments and releases from SPFs.
Continuing appropriations refer to appropriations available to support obligations for a specified purpose or project, such as multi-year construction projects which require the incurrence of obligations beyond one fiscal year.
As for unprogrammed appropriations, some P29.072 billion have been released, largely for support to foreign-assisted projects of the Department of Transportation and for payments of pension arrears of military and uniformed personnel.
Unprogrammed appropriations are standby appropriations which authorize additional agency expenditures for priority programs and projects when revenue collections exceed the resource targets or when additional grants or foreign funds are generated.
Allotments for other automatic appropriations, amounting to P7.54 billion, have also been released.