MANILA, Philippines – Government infrastructure spending grew the fastest in six months in September, putting the year-to-date result on track toward government’s target for 2016, data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed.
A total of P57.7 billion was disbursed for capital outlays, up 63 percent from P35.4 billion in the same period a year ago.
The growth rate marked the fastest since March’s 65.1 percent For the first nine months, outlays stood at P439.7 billion, up 40.4 percent, representing 4.2 percent of GDP, slightly down from 4.3 percent as of June.
“For the month of September, disbursements rallied behind strong infrastructure and other capital spending…,” DBM said in a statement on its website.
“Disbursements for the first three quarters of 2016 (were also) boosted by the huge infrastructure and other capital expenditures,” it said.
Capital outlays include actual infrastructure spending and fund transfers to local governments and state corporations for such purpose.
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Data showed four agencies prompted the surge in September led by the Department of Public Works and Highways that paid for maintenance of existing roads.
The Education and Health portfolios, meanwhile, constructed and upgraded school buildings and state hospitals.
Military acquisition of the Department of National Defense also contributed, DBM said.
Still, DBM said underspending was still obvious, although this was “expected,” given the transition and adjustment to the new administration.
Procurement delays as well as late submission of documents by contractors also stopped agencies to disburse more funds, hence, were not reflected on the government’s balance sheet.
“Most of the projects implemented by line agencies are currently ongoing after experiencing procurement difficulties and implementation bottlenecks late last year and earlier this year,” it said.
“However, spending trends show that disbursements tend to accelerate during the latter part of the year as creditors send their billings before the closing of books…,” it added.
