Budget releases up, utilization eases in 4 months

MANILA, Philippines — The national government raised its cash allocation releases to state departments in the first four months,  although utilization slightly slowed,  according to the Department of Budget and Management.

Based on DBM data, the notices of cash allocation (NCAs) rose by 9.5 percent to P1.78 trillion from January to April compared to last year’s P1.63 trillion.  Of the amount, P1.63 trillion was spent, leaving P154.92 billion unused.

The utilization rate, however, slightly dipped to 91.3 percent from 92 percent in the same period last year.

NCAs are disbursement orders by the DBM to government banks for the release of funds to agencies. State agencies are expected to use NCAs to cover the cash requirements of their programs and projects.

A higher utilization ratio indicates greater capacity of agencies to implement their programs and projects.

Line departments cornered nearly 64 percent of total releases at P1.13 trillion, while other agencies, including state-run firms and local governments, received P646.72 billion.

However, line departments used only 86.5 percent of their released allocations or P980.53 billion, leaving P152.81 billion unused. Other agencies nearly exhausted their funds, posting a 99.7-percent utilization rate.

By department, the largest NCAs in the four-month period went to the Department of Education (P264.5 billion), followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (P158.72 billion) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (P132.6 billion).

DepEd’s utilization rate eased to 91.2 percent from 95 percent, while DPWH improved to 86.7 percent from 85 percent. The DSWD’s utilization rate, however, fell sharply to just 78.2 percent in the four-month period from 98 percent last year.