DBM approves P5.27 trillion budget for government agencies

MANILA, Philippines — Government agencies had wanted P8.66 trillion in funding for their programs and projects, but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) approved only P5.268 trillion or nearly 61 percent of the request.

The DBM tried to consider as much as P8.66 trillion in the proposed budget, but fiscal space constraints prevented the approval of such an amount.

This means that the P5.268 trillion is 60.83 percent of the original P8.66 trillion sought by various government agencies. However, there is no breakdown available for the original proposal.

“The DBM received a total of P8.66 trillion worth of agency budget proposals for 2023,” Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said.

“DBM spent the past few months evaluating them to accommodate the priority programs of the national government, considering the DBCC-approved expenditure ceiling of P5.268 trillion,” she said.

Nonetheless, the proposed P5.268 trillion is still 4.9 percent higher than this year’s P5.02 trillion budget, and is equivalent to 22.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The DBM said the proposed national budget was crafted based on and in support of the administration’s medium-term fiscal strategy.

The government’s fiscal consolidation strategy was underpinned by increasing revenue effort through tax policy and tax administration reforms, as well as declining deficit trajectory over the medium-term.

Pangandaman said the budget supports the administration’s socioeconomic development agenda, but is mindful of the risks of high debt levels on growth and sustainability.

The budget deficit is only expected to reach the pre-pandemic levels by 2027 at 3.2 percent of GDP before closing in at three percent of GDP by 2028.

Still, government disbursements will remain above 20 percent of GDP on the average over the entire plan period, with infrastructure spending projected to reach between five and six percent of GDP for the next six years.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are hoping for a quick approval of the first budget proposal of the Marcos administration.

The two chambers are set to conduct budget deliberations per agency on their priority programs as well as previous budget utilization.