A sharp quarter-on-quarter contraction in government spending in the second quarter may have spurred the Department of Budget and Management to issue on Thursday a memorandum requiring all government agencies to draw a catch-up spending plan.
Seasonally-adjusted second quarter economic data released on Thursday by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed government final consumption expenditure in the April-June quarter declining 5.2 percent from their level in the first quarter.
Government spending, based on constant 2018 prices, decreased in the second quarter to P719.83 billion from P758.93 billion. Weaker government spending, along with quarter-on-quarter declines in consumer spending, investments, exports and imports, led to a 0.9 percent on-quarter retreat in gross domestic product.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman told the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations during her presentation for the proposed 2024 national expenditure plan that on average only 30.5 percent of the P5.268 trillion budget for this year have been obligated.
The budget secretary said the deadline for the catch up is set for September 15. She added that the second quarter data on the obligation rate of budget allotment for the second quarter were submitted by government agencies only in July.
Pangandaman said that based on the January-March obligation rates—or the amount of budget already earmarked for actual spending, the top 10 poorest performers were:
– Department of Information, Communication and Technology — 5.6 percent
– Department of Migrant Workers – 10.0 percent
– Department of Energy – 10.5 percent
– Department of Social Welfare and Development – 11.4 percent
– Department of Agrarian Reform – 13.8 percent
– Department of Labor and Employment – 14.1 percent
– Office of the Press Secretary – 14.9 percent
– Civil Service Commission — 18.4 percent
– Department of Tourism — 18.9 percent
– Other executive offices — 19.4 percent
