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Philippines: Infra spending builds up to P391.2 B in 9 months
MANILA, Philippines — The government spent P142.1 billion for infrastructure projects in the third quarter, up 15.4 percent from P123.2 billion in the same period last year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) reported yesterday.
The amount also exceeded by 3.1 percent the government’s quarterly infrastructure spending program of P137.8 billion.
For the first nine months, capital expenditures increased 11.1 percent to P391.2 billion from P352.2 billion in the same period in 2016.
This was likewise 4.5 percent higher than the government’s capital expenditure target of P374.4 billion for the period.
For September alone, disbursements for infrastructure climbed 6.2 percent to P53.6 billion from P50.5 billion in the same period last year.
The DBM said the 15.4 percent growth rate in the third quarter was faster than the 12.2 percent and 5.9 percent growth rates recorded in the first quarter and second quarter, respectively due to faster project implementation of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
“This is, however, lower when compared to the 33 percent annual growth recorded in the third quarter of 2016 due to the base effects from one-off expenditures and timing of capital outlay projects of the Department of National Defense-Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of Education,” the DBM said.
Infrastructure projects form part of the government’s capital outlays, which went up 17.2 percent to P172.9 billion in the third quarter from P147.6 billion a year ago.
This was, however, slightly lower than the P175.6 billion in capital outlay target of the government during the three-month period.
Other forms of capital outlays include equities – or investments of the national government in the authorized capital stock of state corporations – and capital transfer to local government units.
Earlier, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported government expenditures in the first nine months rose eight percent to P2.01 trillion from P1.86 trillion in the same period last year.
This was, however, six percent lower than P2.14 trillion year-to-date spending program of the government.
According to the DBM, spending is expected to pick up in the fourth quarter based on historical trends and spending behavior of state agencies.
Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/10/27/1752773/infra-spending-builds-p391.2-b-9-months