Gov’t to adopt performance-informed budgeting in 2015

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration is moving toward the outcome-based performance-informed budgeting (PIB) beginning 2015 to ensure  a more responsive, transparent and accountable public expenditure management system.

In the preparation of the proposed national budget for this year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) introduced PIB, a scheme that uses performance information to assist in deciding where the funds will go.

Performance information typically include the purpose for the funds required, the outputs that would be produced or the services that would be rendered, the outcomes that would be achieved by the services, and the cost of the programs and activities proposed to achieve the objectives.      

Performance information can be used as a tool to gauge an agency’s performance and serve as an alarm bell as to which agencies are performing below par.

PIB is different from the traditional line item-based budgeting as it focuses more on outputs and outcomes and places less emphasis on inputs.

The shift to PIB was in line with the Aquino government’s goal to strengthen the link between planning and budgeting and to simplify the presentation of the budget to make it more understandable to the public.      

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the 2015 PIB would feature an enhanced set of organizational structures for each of the agencies, including their corresponding targets, to ensure greater transparency and accountability.     

The PIB lays down the specific guidelines and procedures for government agencies and departments to observe while drawing up their own budget proposals.

All agencies including state universities are required to participate in the briefings on the shift to outcome-based PIB from Feb. 25 to March 12.

“Our goal in the end is to prepare a budget that is more transparent, accountable and open to citizen participation. We’re already building on the strengths of the previous years’ budgets, so that the national budget for 2015 will be even more responsive to the needs of all Filipinos. And because we’re also pushing for improved coordination within the bureaucracy, we can look forward to more efficient project implementation and service delivery to the public,” Abad said.