FINANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the approval of the P17.3-billion budget of the Department of Finance (DOF) for 2020 will be crucial to its mandate of ensuring fiscal stability and increasing revenue collections.
“Next year’s proposed outlays of the
Department and its attached agencies will put flesh into the DOF’s fiscal
objectives, which were honed to support President Duterte’s priority
programs, such as his ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure modernization
plan and public investments to improve the lives of the people,”
Dominguez said in a statement.
The P17.29-billion proposed budget of the DOF and its attached agencies is P1.59 billion or 8 percent lower than its 2019 budget of P18.89 billion, which is also below the preceding year’s P19.73-billion allocation.
The Senate Finance committee, chaired by Sen. Sonny Angara, is currently conducting hearings on the proposed national budget or General Appropriations Act (GAA) for fiscal year 2020.
The House of Representatives approved the proposed GAA on third and final reading last September 20.
Our fiscal objectives were honed to support the administration’s priority programs, such as the massive infrastructure program and public investments to improve the lives of our people. The timely approval of our proposed budget for 2020 will keep us on track in accomplishing these goals,” Dominguez said.
“Completing the reform measures will guarantee the revenue flow and the equitable sharing of the contributions to underwrite our social and infrastructure programs. It will also ensure fiscal stability long into the future,” he said.
Among the DOF-attached agencies, the BIR got the largest allocation of P8.46 billion to further improve its tax administration and enforcement capabilities.
The BIR’s budget for personnel services rose in 2020, as it plans to increase its filled-up positions from 10,671 this year to 11,448 in 2020.
The agencies with the biggest reduction in the proposed 2020 budget are the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) and Bureau of Customs.
BTr’s proposed budget of P4.77 billion for 2020 dropped P1.3 billion or 21 percent compared to its 2019 appropriations of P6.04 billion, as it would be paying this year the final installment of the paid-in capital of the country to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Its proposed budget also maintained the P2-billion insurance premium for government assets against natural or human-induced calamities, epidemics, crises and catastrophes.
