State infrastructure spending jumps to P119 billion in April

MANILA, Philippines — The government ramped up its infrastructure spending to P119 billion in April, mainly to finance road projects, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

Based on the latest national government disbursement performance report of the DBM, state infrastructure expenditure and other capital outlays jumped by 36.2 percent to P118.9 billion in April from P87.3 billion in the same period last year.

The DBM said the substantial increase was due to the spending performance of the implementation of infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

These include the construction, repair and rehabilitation of roads, bridges and flood control structures, as well as the construction of administrative, hospital and multi-purpose buildings.

Similarly, it was also attributed to the release of local counterpart funds for various foreign-assisted projects of the Department of Transportation and the implementation of projects under the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program of the Department of National Defense (DND).

For the four-month period, infrastructure spending picked up by 18 percent to P335.7 billion from P284 billion.

The DBM said this was largely due to the implementation of various road infrastructure programs and defense modernization projects of the DPWH and the DND, respectively.

Meanwhile, overall government spending for April reached P494.5 billion, soaring by 32 percent from the P373.9 billion a year ago.

Apart from infrastructure, personnel services expenditures also inched up by five percent to P100.4 billion amid higher clothing allowance of government employees and bigger employer contribution to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and the Pag-IBIG Fund.

The government also recorded higher maintenance and other operating expenses to P92.4 billion due to assistance and subsidies for the agriculture, transport and social services sectors.

On the other hand, combined allotment and capital transfers to local government units picked up by 6.7 percent to P79.1 billion on higher tax allotments due to the Mandanas Ruling.

It should be noted that the tax revenue base, from which the tax allotment shares of LGUs this year is determined, was the actual tax collections in 2021 when the economy was starting to recover from the pandemic.

Interest payments also increased by 46 percent to P67.5 billion due to coupon payments for domestic and global bonds, variation in the timing of payments, as well as the impact of higher exchange rates.

An improvement in government spending was similarly noted in subsidy support to government corporations which tripled to P27.7 billion largely for the power sector, irrigation projects and resettlement and housing programs.

Meanwhile, net lending dropped by almost 70 percent to just P1.6 billion on lower government advances to the National Food Authority for the debt servicing of both its short-term and long-term loans.

As of end-April, the remaining program balance amounts to P809.2 billion or 14 percent of the record P5.768 trillion 2024 budget.

The DBM said the robust disbursement performance is expected to be sustained in the coming months as line agencies submit their special budget requests to implement their respective programs.

“These will consequently accelerate the pace of government spending for the rest of the year,” the DBM said.