MANILA, Philippines — Just two weeks after the new year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is now asking government agencies to start preparing their proposals for another record high budget of P5.569 trillion for 2024.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman has issued national budget memorandum 145 containing the national budget call for fiscal year 2024.
Based on the government’s fiscal program, the 2024 national expenditure program is pegged at a record high P5.569 trillion.
Next year’s planned budget is 5.7 percent higher than the 2023 appropriation of P5.268 trillion approved in December last year.
Pangandaman said that next year’s budget is poised to respond to the expected continuing headwinds brought about by geopolitical tensions that resulted in rising inflation and interest rates.
The budget also targets to address the economic scarring that was left by the pandemic.
“With clear macroeconomic objectives set in place by the medium-term fiscal framework, the 2024 budget has a blueprint by which it can achieve the eight-point socioeconomic agenda of the administration,” Pangandaman said.
She said the government would continue to implement risk-managed interventions in areas of food security, transport and logistics, energy, bureaucratic efficiency and fiscal management, health, education and social protection.
These aim to ensure the unimpeded and adequate delivery of social services, mitigate inflation pressures, accelerate economic recovery and address economic scarring.
Further, the budget chief emphasized that the government would ensure that only implementation-ready agency proposals are included for next year.
This, as the fiscal space of the government continues to be limited.
This also means that agencies’ budget proposals are expected to contain concrete program plans and designs that outline key procurement and implementation milestones, including specific project locations and beneficiaries.
“The government will also look into the agencies’ previous year budget utilization and performance as part of its evaluation process,” Pangandaman said.
As of end-November last year, the utilization rate of the government stood at 94 percent.
Moreover, Pangandaman said priority programs for next year should support the Philippine Development Plan, the roadmap that aims to transform economic sectors and institutions for a “prosperous, inclusive, and resilient society.”
The government will also put emphasis on infrastructure development, including the Build Better More program, as well as digital and social infrastructure.
For 2024, infrastructure spending is proposed to increase by almost 10 percent to P1.297 trillion from this year’s P1.18 trillion.
Increased infrastructure spending will not in any way detract from the full support provided to the poorest, lagging, climate change and disaster risk vulnerable areas nor the social sector and basic public services,” Pangandaman said.