A total of P131.09 billion in notices of cash allocation (NCAs) were utilized in October, accounting for 68 percent of the P192.65 billion released during the period. File photo
MANILA, Philippines – Government agencies spent slowest in October for this year, latest data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed.
A total of P131.09 billion in notices of cash allocation (NCAs) were utilized in October, accounting for 68 percent of the P192.65 billion released during the period.
The NCA utilization rate – the proportion of utilized NCAs over total releases – was the lowest so far this year and marked a considerable drop from 119 percent the month before.
It was 83 percent in August and 78.9 percent in July, the first full month of the Duterte administration.
NCAs are used by agencies to secure checks from the Bureau of the Treasury to pay for their contracted obligations. Once utilized, funds are deemed disbursed and are recorded on government balance sheet.
DBM officials did not reply to request for comment, but an earlier disbursement gave some glimpse of the pace of agency spending last month.
Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
“Based on preliminary numbers, spending for the month of October this year is likely lower than that of the previous year,” DBM said in a report on its website.
According to the agency, the lower figures were a result of base effects, coming from high disbursements in same period last year for preparations for two government events.
These are the meetings of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in November and the automated elections this year, it said.
Broken down, only two agencies, both of which are constitutional bodies, breached the 90-percent utilization rate last month namely the Commission on Human Rights and Commission on Audit.
The former led with 96.9 percent, followed by the latter with 93.8 percent.
In the Executive department, the Office of the President led other agencies with 87.5 percent NCA utilization rate. It was followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways with 85.6 percent.
The Presidential Communications Operations Office ranked third with 80.3 percent, followed by the Department of Labor and Employment with 76.1 percent.
The Duterte administration promised to spend more to boost the economy after the previous government was hounded by years of underspending.
In doing so, economic managers widened the deficit cap to P388.9 billion this year, equivalent to 2.7 percent of gross domestic product, from just two percent.
