THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Wednesday said an intensified spending on infrastructure and capital outlay (CO) in the second quarter has accelerated government spending to P1.07 trillion in the first half of 2015.
Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said government spending on CO rose 37.3 percent to P81.8 billion in the second quarter against comparable figures last year.
He said faster disbursements for public infrastructure and CO from April to June this year helped raise total spending to P567.9 billion for the quarter, reflecting a 12.4-percent year-on-year increase and bringing government spending to P1.07 trillion in the first half of 2015.
“Second-quarter figures show that government spending is now at a steady and encouraging clip,” Abad said in a media briefing on Wednesday.
He added that infrastructure spending will continue to play a major role in firing up disbursements, as the Aquino administration sustains the expansion of public infrastructure in the country.
DBM disbursement figures showed that spending on CO increased by 36.4 percent to P111.8 billion in the second quarter of 2015.
Of these funds, spending on infrastructure projects reached P81.8 billion, compared to P59.6 billion in the same period last year.
Abad said disbursements for infrastructure and CO were due largely to the higher requirements of infrastructure-development programs under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The DPWH performed strongly in the second quarter, spending P8.83 billion over program, bringing their first-semester spending figures to P4.44 billion in excess of program.
Abad also said interest payments from April to June—amounting to P55.5 billion—contracted by 2 percent year-on-year, in view of the administration’s drive to improve debt burden management.
“When we devote less of the budget to national debt, we can allocate more resources to antipoverty and economic development programs,” Abad said.
The budget chief raised the need to ramp up agency expenditures in light of the administration’s goal of rapid and sustainable economic growth.