BUDGET Secretary Florencio B. Abad said that the government’s interest payments for the second quarter this year contracted by 2 percent year-on-year to P55.5 billion that allowed more spending for infrastructure projects to sustain economic growth.
He said that based on the disbursement report by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the second quarter this year, interest payments were reduced for the second quarter this year compared to P56.6 billion during the same period last year due to the administration’s drive to improve debt burden management.
The DBM report showed that disbursements for infrastructure and outlays were among the highest spending at P81.8 billion for second quarter this year compared with P56.6 billion during the same period last year due to higher spending by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
“When we devote less of the budget to national debt, we can allocate more resources to antipoverty and economic development programs. In this manner, the national budget can be truly responsive to the needs of the Filipino people,” Abad said in a news statement.
Earlier the budget chief emphasized the need to ramp up agency expenditures in light of the administration’s goal of rapid and sustainable economic growth.
He said vigorous and strategic government spending is key to driving economic progress.
“If we intend to sustain our country’s growth momentum, our departments and agencies will have to catch up with their spending targets and optimize their funds. We’ve already mobilized full-time delivery units [FDUs] across major spending agencies so we don’t lose sight of our expenditure and program implementation targets,” Abad said.
Abad said that with various public finance management reforms being implemented, agencies and departments are spending efficiently their respective allocations.
The DBM has been facing problems on underspending in the last three years with P303 billion underspent budget in 2014.
The Budget Department has stepped up measures to speed up spending, such as direct release of funds to local government units under the bottom up budgeting program.