DBM orders catch-up plans for underspending agencies

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has ordered state agencies with low spending rates to come up with their catch-up plans and address bottlenecks in their utilization.

In her latest circular letter, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman told all government agencies and bureaus to submit a status report of their 2024 budget and financial accountability report.

As such, all agencies were ordered to submit their budget utilization report as of June 30, specifically the statement of appropriations, allotments, obligations, disbursements and balances.

This should be submitted within the next 30 days.

The DBM also ordered agencies to present the status of flagship programs and projects under the 2023 and 2024 budgets, particularly those with significant budget allocations.

In particular, agencies with below 50 percent of their respective physical and financial targets for the first semester of the year were asked to submit detailed catch-up plans.

State agencies should identify specific implementation issues and challenges encountered such as procurement delays, regulatory bottlenecks and staffing shortages, among others that caused low utilization and performance rates.

Pangandaman said this is also in line with the objectives of the medium-term fiscal framework to promote sound, efficient and effective management and utilization of government resources.

“We will closely monitor the implementation of programs and projects by government agencies, ensuring that the utilization targets for 2024 are met in support of the attainment of the GDP (gross domestic product) growth target for the year,” Pangandaman said.

Given the record P5.768-trillion allocation this year, agencies are expected to execute their programs as authorized in the annual budget and deliver planned results in a timely manner to help economic growth.

Same time last year, the economic team also had a problem with low spending rates of agencies that impacted GDP growth in the second quarter.