Government confident of hitting infra spending target

MANILA, Philippines — Economic managers are confident of achieving this year’s total disbursement program of P3.769 trillion through accelerated infrastructure spending in the last quarter despite the delayed implementation of the national budget.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez told reporters on Wednesday night after the meeting of the Economic Development Cluster (EDC), that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as well as the Department of Transportation (DOTr) are expected to accelerate their spending to cover the gap due to the delayed passage of the 2019 national budget.

The government, Dominguez said, needs to disburse the remaining 30 percent of the national budget or P1.14 trillion in the fourth quarter.

“Based on the updates of our main infrastructure agencies, we are confident that we are going to hit our spending target this year,” Dominguez said.

Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that government spending increased by 5.5 percent to P2.63 trillion from January to September compared to P2.49 trillion in the same period last year, but was 2.14 percent lower than the program of P2.68 trillion.

 “This was weighed down by the contraction recorded by the disbursements of infrastructure and other capital delays which were mainly due to the delay in the passage of the 2019 national budget and the election ban,” he said.

Actual disbursements for infrastructure and other capital outlay slipped by 4.2 percent to P546.3 billion in the first nine months and about eight percent short of the program P594 billion for the period.

For September alone, total government expenditures surged by 39 percent to P415.1 billion from P298.6 billion in the same month last year.

 “It (government spending) caught up in September. And even looking at October now, it looks like it’s going to be better,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar and Transport chief Arthur Tugada have committed to meet their disbursement targets for the whole of 2019.

Dominguez said the DPWH said it would deliver the remaining P300.3 billion of its P725-billion disbursement target for the year in the last quarter of the year through various projects including phase one of the Central Luzon link Express project, the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway, the Ciudad de Victoria interchange overpass bridge and the bypass road in Bulacan.

“The DPWH is implementing reforms to effectively address right away issues and accelerate implementation of big-ticket projects,” he said.

On the other hand, Dominguez said the DOTr has committed to disburse the remaining 51.37 billion of its total P82 billion budget for 2019 in the fourth quarter.

As the government accelerates the implementation of the Build Build Build program, he said the economy is expected to expand at a higher clip over the remaining months of 2019 as inflation stays within official within the official target range of two to four percent of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).