MANILA, Philippines — State agencies picked up the pace of their spending as they utilized more notices of cash allocation (NCA) in the first half, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
In its latest Status of Disbursement report, the DBM said 97 percent or P1.35 trillion out of the P1.39 trillion worth of NCAs released from January to June has already been successfully utilized by implementing agencies.
This leaves P40.55 billion worth of NCAs yet to be used from those already released by the DBM.
The government’s first half NCA utilization rate is an improvement from the 94.6 percent recorded in the same period in 2017.
For the second quarter alone, the government utilized P739.54 billion or 96.3 percent of the P768.19 billion NCAs released during the three-month period.
Agencies need NCAs to claim their checks from the Bureau of the Treasury, which are then used to pay for public projects and services.
Once utilized, funds are deemed disbursed and are recorded on the government balance sheet.
Earlier, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno expressed confidence the government would be able to hit its second quarter disbursement target.
Based on the 2018 quarterly fiscal program as approved by the Development Budget Coordination Committee, disbursement is programmed to reach P813 billion in the second quarter. Spending for the first two months of the quarter already reached P553 billion.
In May alone, government expenditures amounted to P291.9 billion, 12 percent up from the P261.7 billion posted in the same month in 2017.
From January to May, disbursements grew by 25 percent to P1.33 trillion from P1.06 trillion in the same period last year. The figure was one percent or P15.2 billion higher than the spending program of P1.31 billion for the period.
Diokno said higher spending should translate to better outcomes for the economy, including more jobs, improved standards of living, and robust economic activity.