Government infrastructure spending down for 3rd month

MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos administration’s infrastructure spending continued to contract for the third consecutive month this year amid reduced fund releases by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

According to the latest disbursement report from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the government’s spending on infrastructure and other capital outlays plummeted by 48 percent to P59.1 billion in March from P113.5 billion in the same month in 2025.

Month on month, spending also slipped by 11 percent from P66.4 billion in February.

The DBM attributed the decline largely to the “lower disbursement performance of DPWH due to the ongoing completion of carry-over projects and implementation of the current year’s budget.”

“The adoption of a stricter validation process for billing claims to ensure project quality and value for money also continued to affect the department’s spending outturn,” it added.

Despite this, the agency said the rollout of capital outlay projects under the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program of the Department of National Defense tempered the decline.

March marked the third straight decline in 2026, as the government remains unable to shrug off the slide since July 2025 due to the widening corruption scandal tied to flood control projects.

For the first three months of the year, infrastructure spending plunged by 43.5 percent to P147.8 billion from P261.8 billion in the same period a year ago.

Economic managers earlier lowered their projected infrastructure disbursements to P1.3 trillion or 4.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2026.

Overall, disbursement inched up by 3.2 percent to P1.49 trillion in the first quarter after spending increased to P654.8 billion in March.

Meanwhile, the DBM said it expects implementation of various capital outlay projects to pick up this second quarter following the release of allotments in the earlier months, particularly in March, allowing agencies to conduct bidding activities and obligate funds.

Infrastructure agencies are similarly seen to take advantage of the summer period to accelerate construction activities, it said.

“This will hopefully build up spending momentum and help the recovery of infrastructure spending toward the second half of the year,” the DBM said.

Data from the DBM showed that program balance amounted to P2.17 trillion as of end-March, representing 32 percent of the P6.79 trillion obligation program for the year.

“Releases are further expected in the coming months as implementing agencies submit their special budget requests and corresponding documentary requirements to support the release of their remaining allotments,” the DBM said.

It added that expenditures would further increase disbursements in the second quarter, alongside the allotments that were already released early this year.