Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 17) — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it has released 92.3 percent of the national budget this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement on Friday, the department said ₱3.78 trillion has been released out of the ₱4.10 trillion general appropriations in the first six months of the year–a marked improvement compared to the 85.5 percent achieved in the same period last year, despite the global health crisis.
Moreover, allotment releases to line departments, which include the executive, legislative, judicial and other constitutional offices, totaled to ₱ 2.08 trillion.
A total of ₱ 234.45 billion or about half was also released for “Special Purpose Funds,” which covers specific socio-economic purposes such as budgetary support to government corporations, allocations to local government units, contingent fund, miscellaneous personnel benefits fund, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund, and pension and gratuity fund.
On the other hand, automatic appropriations reached ₱1.26 trillion. These annual allocations as prescribed by the law include internal revenue allotment, block grant for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, special account in the general fund, net lending, interest payments, and tax expenditures fund.
A total of ₱63.62 billion has been released from the continuing appropriates from the 2019 allocations for line departments and released from SPFs.
Under unprogrammed appropriations, or allocations that allow for additional agency expenditures for priority programs and projects, ₱149.77 billion has been released, DBM said.
The DBM also assured that it will release remaining funds for the rest of the year to support government’s programs, especially those under the COVID-19 response.
It noted that as of June 24, ₱374.89 billion has been released to support programs to fight the pandemic crisis.
Meanwhile, the Monetary Board approved $6.840-billion worth of foreign borrowings of the national government in the second quarter of 2020.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in a statement that this is higher by $3.8 billion from the foreign borrowings approved in the same period last year.
This includes one bond issuance amounting to $2.35 billion; three project loans totaling to $340.995 million; and six program loans amounting to $4.15 billion.
The BSP noted this will fund the government’s general financing requirements for 2020 at $2.350 billion; programs for COVID-19 response at $4.450 billion; and infrastructure development programs at $40.995 million.
