MANILA, Philippines — Government budget utilization in the first half rose by more than 10 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Funds released from January to June went up by 10.4 percent to P2.49 trillion compared to the P2.26 trillion recorded in the first half of 2024, the latest notice of cash allocation (NCA) data from the DBM showed.
Meanwhile, utilized NCAs also increased by 10.2 percent to P2.46 trillion during the period from last year’s P2.23 trillion. As of end-June, P26.4 billion remained unused, reflecting the government’s near-full utilization of available budgetary allocations.
Similar to the previous year, the utilization rate of the allocated funds has remained consistently high, holding steady at 99 percent.
NCAs are funding directives released by the DBM to authorized government banks, allowing agencies to cover the cash requirements of their programs and projects through timely fund releases and utilization.
A high utilization rate demonstrates strong operational capacity of agencies to roll out government-funded programs and infrastructure.
Line departments, or government agencies that directly implement public service programs, secured more than 74 percent of the releases at P1.85 trillion. Meanwhile, the remaining P639 billion is for other departments and state-run firms.
Aside from the Office of the Vice President and the Commission on Audit, which recorded a 100-percent utilization rate in May, nine agencies followed in fully utilizing their cash allocations in June.
The agencies are the Departments of Education, Foreign Affairs, Labor and Employment and Migrant Workers.
Other agencies or sectors that fully utilized their allocations are the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Tourism, the judiciary, the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Elections and the Office of the Ombudsman.
Meanwhile, the Department of Information and Communication Technology registered the lowest utilization rate at 76 percent, with only P3.48 billion utilized.
The Department of Energy followed with P939.1 million or a 77-percent utilization rate, and the Department of Agriculture with P32.4 billion or an 82-percent utilization rate.
The budget for this year is set at P6.352 trillion.
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