The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said disbursements by the national government (NG) increased year-on-year by 5.5 percent, or P34.4 billion, to P660.6 billion for the months of January to April, but spending on infrastructure declined by 1.9 percent despite the need to speed up road and transport projects.
A DBM disbursement report showed that government spending reached P660.6 billion from January compared with the P626.1 billion for the same period last year.
Although the government’s disbursement for April increased to P156.5 billion in 2015 compared with P143.6 billion during the same period last year, spending on infrastructure went down by as much as P1.8 billion.
The DBM report showed that NG disbursements for April this year for infrastructure was down to 1.9 percent at P91.9 billion compared with P93.7 billion in the same month last year.
The DBM report also said that by the end of April this year, a total of P2.178 billion, or 84 percent, of the 2015 national budget have been released to departments and agencies.
“This rate of allotment release is faster than the comparable rates of 80 percent last year and 73 percent in 2013 with the adoption of the General Appropriations Act-as-a-release document policy,” said the DBM disbursement report issued on Tuesday.
It added that for April 2015, the DBM has released P49.3 billion for major projects of key spending agencies such as the Department of Education (DepEd).
This include DepEd’s Basic Educational Facilities Fund worth P15.6 billion, which was transferred to the Department of Public Works and Highways; pension requirements under the Pension and Gratuity Fund worth P10.8 billion; customs duties and taxes worth P6.4 billion; creation of new positions and filling up of unfilled positions under the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund at P2.7 billion; and road-maintenance projects charged against the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge Fund at P2.7 billion.