Government infrastructure projects need 24/7 work mode — Pernia
MANILA, Philippines — The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) yesterday stressed the need to continue the round-the-clock construction of government projects to catch up on spending for infrastructure after encountering a budget delay this year.
During yesterday’s economic forum hosted by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said “redoubling efforts” in public spending would provide a much-needed boost to the economy in the second semester.
The economy grew at a slower-than-expected pace of 5.5 percent in the second quarter of the year, bringing the average growth in the first semester to 5.5 percent.
The weaker growth in the second quarter was attributed to the continued effect of the delay in the passage of the 2019 national budget as well as the election ban on spending on government projects implemented by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Thus, the economy has to grow by an average of 6.4 percent in the second half to reach the low end of the full-year growth target of six percent to seven percent in 2019.
“This will require redoubling our efforts in public spending, in pushing infrastructure projects on 24/7 work mode,” said Pernia.
“The problem of course in the second semester is it tends to be more wet than the first semester which was the time when there was not much construction activity due to the suspension of construction projects by Comelec as well as the late enactment of the 2019 budget,” he added.
The 2019 national budget was passed into law only in mid-April as lawmakers locked horns over supposed last-minute insertions.
Economic managers sought an exemption for big-ticket projects of national significance from the election spending ban to prevent delays in execution and to minimize slowdown in economic growth.
The Comelec, however, was not able to respond to the petition for exemption in time for the start of the ban.
The government spending delay was reflected in the slowdown of government consumption spending to 5.6 percent in the second quarter from 6.1 percent in the first quarter and six percent in the second quarter of 2018.
Public construction declined by 27.2 percent for the second consecutive quarter.
Government consumption contributed 0.9 percentage points to the headline GDP growth rate in the second quarter.
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