Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 13) — Infrastructure spending improved in February with agency expenditures in line with the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act picking up, data from the Budget and Management Department showed.
Government expenditure on infrastructure stood at ₱56.1 billion during the month, up by 23.1% from the same period in 2020. Prior to February’s figure, infrastructure spending had been contracting year-on-year since July.
“This was accounted for mainly by the payments for completed infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) which were started late last year, and the mobilization costs for their current year’s projects,” explained the DBM, citing the likes of road widening, rehabilitation and improvement, and flood control efforts as examples of said projects.
Another factor the agency cited was the construction of farm-to-market roads of the Agriculture Department. This, along with payables connected to the provision of farm machineries and equipment to farmer organizations qualified under the Rice Tariffication Law likewise drove the rise in infrastructure spending and other capital expenditures.
The latest figure brought total infrastructure and other capital outlays a total of ₱107.4 billion for the first two months of 2021. The amount is 14.4% higher than what was logged during the same period the year prior.
In sum, the government disbursed ₱610.3 billion from January to February, also up by 18.3% from the same months in 2020.
The DBM expects state spending to further accelerate in March, owing to a trend of higher expenditures by the said month “before the validity of cash allocations end.”
The agency likewise projects disbursements to steadily increase with the continuous implementation of infrastructure projects which began late last year and the start of other infrastructure activities that will take advantage of summer months. It also pins its hopes on the distribution of cash aid to households in NCR Plus areas, which earlier reverted to enhanced community quarantine, and the ongoing enactment of Bayanihan 2.
