Government Expenditures

by Daxim L. Lucas, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 3 Dec 2020 MANILA, Philippines—The central bank called on the national government to accelerate its own spending program to boost growth amid emerging data that the private sector remains gun shy on taking out loans, which are now at their cheapest in history, which would generate economic activity.

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By Mayvelin U. Caraballo, Manila Times, 13 Jul 2020 The national government’s gross financing in May increased to over P289 billion, bringing the year-to-date borrowings to P1.50 trillion, data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.

by Mary Grace Padin (The Philippine Star), May 25, 2019 MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte Cabinet’s Economic Development Cluster (EDC) remains confident that the government would be able to meet its spending target for 2019 as line agencies laid out their respective “catch up” plans for the rest of the year, according to the Department…

By Mary Grace Padin (The Philippine Star), Mar 20, 2017 MANILA, Philippines – Subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) went up in 2016, with the bulk of the amount going to health care services, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.

by Cai Ordinario – April 19, 2016, http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/3-year-blueprint-pegs-infrastructure-spending-at-p3-trillion/ The government is targeting to spend as much as P3 trillion for infrastructure projects, from 2017 to 2019, in keeping with its goal of hiking public-infrastructure spending to at least 5 percent of GDP.

IT SEEMS a country’s spending reflects its national stereotypes, according to household expenditure data compiled by Eurostat: Russians splash 8% of their money on booze and cigarettes—far more than most rich countries—while fun-loving Australians spend a tenth of theirs on recreation, and bookish South Koreans splurge more than most on education.

MANILA, Philippines – The government spent P505 billion last year to pay portion of its debts, 7.9 percent lower than the P559 billion in the same period last year.

Sec. Abad: New expenditure plan a blueprint for inclusive growth A day after President Benigno Aquino III delivered his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA), Secretary of Budget Florencio “Butch” Abad will be submitting to Congress today the National Expenditure Program for FY 2014—a blueprint of the Aquino Administration’s development agenda to sustain the…

IN 2011, the Philippine government targeted a budget deficit of ₱290 billion, equivalent to 3.2% of gross domestic product (GDP). It was so slow in implementing authorized public projects, that it ended up with a deficit of ₱197.8 billion, or ₱92.2 billion lower. By any standard, 2011 was a bad year. But 2012 was not…

WHY DO our economic managers continue to underspend for public infrastructure given the poor state of our airports, seaports, roads and bridges, urban mass transport, and the flickering power supply, and given that the cost of public borrowing is at its historic low? Why do they rejoice whenever the budget deficit is below planned target,…

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration has fallen short of its employment generation target of a million per year, while its public spending ratio continued to slide.

INFRASTRUCTURE spending remained well below the full-year program as of September, Budget department data showed, as disbursements to some agencies were underutilized and funds remained unreleased. Budget gap widens, still well below targetSpending plan reviewedCoA questions agency’s unauthorized spendingSubsidies to state firms dropGov’t still to catch up on spending target

THE PROPONENTS of higher tax on sin products, especially on cigarettes, argue that earmarking of incremental revenues is one way of ensuring the adequacy of government spending for basic health care. While I agree that the government is perhaps not spending enough for health care, I doubt that earmarking of government revenue would be a…

A REPEAT of last year’s spending “stimulus” is being planned by the Budget department, which wants to realign government agencies’ unused funds for priority projects in the fourth quarter. “[A]nother Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) is planned for implementation this year, based on the extent of appropriations which remain unobligated to date,” states a Budget department…

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration said government spending is expected to jump further in the second half of the year and would sustain the improvement in disbursements. The government has been trying to improve spending to boost economic growth, which grew 5.9 percent in the second quarter of the year from 6.4 percent in…

PUBLIC SPENDING may have increased significantly as of July but the government still has a lot of ground to cover if it is to achieve full-year targets, Budget department data showed. Capital outlays hit P148.7 billion in the January-July period, up 39% from the previous year. The figure, however, is just 39.72% of the P374.4-billion…

PUBLIC SPENDING should remain strong in the second semester as the government undertakes reconstruction efforts following recent calamities, a Cabinet official said.

PUBLIC SPENDING last month spiked to its highest level so far this year as government agencies responded to budget reforms, particularly a threat to withdraw all unused funds by the end of this quarter.

THE GOVERNMENT more than doubled its first semester fiscal deficit in July as it posted its highest monthly spending performance so far this year.

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration is seeking P2.006 trillion as appropriation for 2013 to fund projects that aim to bolster the country’s bid to achieve economic growth of six to seven percent in 2013, Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration is seeking P2.006 trillion as appropriation for 2013 to fund projects that aim to bolster the country’s bid to achieve economic growth of six to seven percent in 2013, Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday.

BUDGET Secretary Florencio Abad said on Wednesday that they are going to trim the government’s budget deficit to 2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013, lower than 2.6 percent ceiling for 2012.

The January-May 2012 actual fiscal numbers suggest that the kinks that bug project implementation in the Aquino administration remain. Using the most likely case, spending for public infrastructure and other capital outlays, will be off by about 30% during the first half of the year. A pickup in the third quarter is unlikely because of…

STATE SPENDING remains well below programmed amounts for the year despite significant year-on-year gains as of May, data from the Budget department showed.

President Benigno Aquino III has set a lower deficit cap for the current year, setting sight on a 2.6 percent limit for fiscal year 2012, lower than the target set for 2011.

MANILA, Philippines – The “problem” the government wants to have more than anything now is a wider budget deficit. It’s ironic because for years, the government has been trying to narrow the budget gap and the previous administration even attempted to balance the budget by 2010 supposedly.

MANILA, Philippines – The “problem” the government wants to have more than anything now is a wider budget deficit.

The government has released P61.28 billion or 85 percent of the stimulus package as it tries to catch up on its spending to spur economic growth in the fourth quarter, Budget chief Florencio Abad said on Tuesday.

THE 2012 national budget, to be signed tomorrow by President Benigno S.C. Aquino III, is not the “people’s budget” promised by the government, civil society organizations yesterday said.