The national government’s disbursements for infrastructure and other capital outlays in November posted a double-digit growth owing to the payment for completed and partially completed infrastructure projects, data released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed.
In the latest assessment of the DBM’s national government disbursement performance posted in the agency’s website yesterday, the DBM said infrastructure and capital outlays for November rose to P80.9 billion, outpacing last year’s performance of P62.9 billion by 28.6 percent.
The DBM said this was due to the payment for some of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ projects such as those involving roads, bridges and flood control structures, as well as the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) airport and port projects.
“Disbursements of the DOTr for payment of right-of-way acquisitions, and construction of buildings of the Land Transportation Office and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, likewise, contributed to higher infrastructure spending for the period,” the DBM said.
“Some P1.4 billion was released to Department of Agriculture for the implementation of the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund Lending Assistance for Small Farmers and Fisherfolks intended for purchase of farm equipment, farm improvement, and acquisition/establishment of agricultural facilities,” the agency added.
However, year-to-date disbursements in infrastructure and other capital outlays was lower by 2.6 percent to P709.8 billion as of end-November, from P728.1 billion in the same period in 2018.
“Infrastructure spending was lower year-on-year due to contractions recorded in the previous months as a result of the delay in 2019 budget approval and the election ban,” the DBM said.
“However, it is worthy to note that the strong disbursement performance in November narrowed down the contraction recorded in infrastructure and other capital outlays to P18.7 billion (2.6 percent) as of end-November, from P36.7 billion (5.5 percent) during the first 10 months of 2019,” it added.
Meanwhile, total disbursements for November 2019 reached P365.6 billion, growing by P66.8 billion or 22.4 percent.
The DBM said this resulted from the significant increase in all three major expense class: personnel services, maintenance and other operating expenses, and infrastructure and other capital outlays.
As of end-November, total disbursements of the national government reached P3.3 trillion, P208.2 billion or 6.7 percent more than the previous year’s level.
“The increase was largely credited to higher personnel services costs for the payment of salaries, wages, and other benefits, maintenance spending mainly for social protection programs and operating expenses, and subsidy contribution to government-owned and -controlled corporations,” the DBM said.
“Other drivers of growth include allotment to local government units (LGUs) as a result of higher shares of LGUs from the proceeds of national taxes, interest payments, tax expenditures on account of payment of custom duties to the National Food Authority (NFA) on rice importation, and net lending due to advances to the NFA for payment of its maturing obligations,” it added.
The DBM said the government is optimistic it will achieve its spending target for 2019 as line agencies sped up program/project implementation, and processed payments ahead of lapsing of cash allocations in December and agency closing of books.
“Preliminary data indicate that disbursements for December 2019 likely grew by around 50 percent year-on-year, and that full year disbursements could likely rebound by a double-digit growth,” the DBM said.
