October 18, 2024 | 12:00am
As of September
MANILA, Philippines — The government has made adjustments to the national budget by about P65 billion, entirely for unprogrammed appropriations, hitting a record P5.83 trillion for this year.
Latest data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed that the adjusted program for the year has been set at P5.832 trillion as of end-September.
This is P65.17 billion above the programmed P5.768 trillion budget. The entire additional fund went to unprogrammed appropriations.
Unprogrammed appropriations provide standby authority to incur additional agency obligations for priority programs or projects when revenue collection exceeds targets and when additional grants or foreign funds are generated.
Last year, the DBM only started adjusting the national budget in October with a bigger P261.1 billion in extra resources. By the end of 2023, total adjustments reached P374.39 billion.
Of the P65 billion additional funds, the bulk, or about P29 billion, was allocated to pay personnel benefits for about 24 departments and agencies.
A huge chunk of P23.56 billion served as the government counterpart of foreign-assisted projects of the Departments of Agrarian Reform, Agriculture, Public Works and Highways, Social Welfare and Development, Labor and Employment and Transportation.
The Department of National Defense likewise received P10 billion to fund the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Some P3.37 billion was allocated to the Department of Health for its priority social programs and social welfare and development.
Another P2.2 billion was allocated to the National Economic and Development Authority’s infrastructure and social program assistance.
There was also P2.14 billion earmarked to support the foreign-assisted projects of the DOTr.
Another P153.44 million was spent on the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges project.
Under the 2024 General Appropriations Act, unprogrammed appropriations increased to P731.4 billion from the original proposal of P281.9 billion. This means that lawmakers inserted P449.5 billion during the bicameral conference committee.
Based on the National Expenditure Program for 2025, the DBM proposed unprogrammed funds of P158.7 billion, 78.3 percent lower than this year’s level.
This is just 2.5 percent of the total expenditures for 2025, significantly lower than the 12.7 percent share in this year’s budget.
Be the first to comment