Government budget 12% higher next year to boost infrastructure

MANILA, Philippines - The Duterte administration is planning to raise government spending by more than 12 percent next year as it seeks to maintain the Philippines’ growth momentum through investments in infrastructure. 

The P3.767-trillion budget for 2018 was presented to President Duterte during a Cabinet meeting in Malacañang on Monday.

The outlay, which is 12.4 percent higher than this year’s P3.35-trillion expenditure program, was approved by Duterte and the Cabinet as presented, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said. 

“I’m finalizing it now so he can submit the President’s budget on the day of his SONA on July 24,” Diokno said, referring to the State of the Nation Address.

The proposed budget for 2018 is lower than the P3.84 trillion originally proposed by economic managers. This year’s expenditure program was lowered after the House of Representatives passed a watered down version of the tax reform bill. 

The measure approved by the House is seen to generate P133.8 billion in additional revenues next year, lower than the P157.2 billion that the original proposal is expected to raise. 

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia had warned that the envisioned golden age of infrastructure under the Duterte presidency might end up a bronze one or even a dark age if the tax reform bill is not enacted. 

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the 2018 outlay, equivalent to 21.6 percent of the projected gross domestic product (GDP) for that year, “is a budget that reforms and transforms.”