President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assured that public spending will accelerate in the remaining two quarters of the year, as infrastructure spending lagged by 7 percent due partly to delays in bidding out projects following the controversy surrounding flood control infrastructure projects.

“Growth rate is heavily dependent on public spending. That has been delayed. Usually, when the NEP (National Expenditure Program) is issued, the contracts that are contained within the NEP are already bid out so that when January 1 comes, the projects can proceed. It’s a way of saving time and making sure that projects proceed immediately,” Marcos said during a luncheon with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Friday.

He said most projects and contracts under the 2026 NEP had not been bid out when the government examined the spending program.

“They were bid out towards the first quarter of this year. That’s why we have delayed public spending. But we have done many measures to accelerate the rate. And as of the second quarter of this year, we are only at a shortfall of 7 percent year-on-year. We will increase the activity for the rest of the year so that the growth rate of the GDP will show an increase,” the President said.

Earlier, the Department of Economy, Planning and Development said the Marcos administration is targeting the completion of nine infrastructure flagship projects worth a combined P215.95 billion by the end of 2026.

Among the projects targeted for completion this year is the P51.72-billion Malampaya Phase 4 Project and Drilling of Bagong Pag-asa under the Department of Energy.

The Department of Public Works and Highways is also targeting the completion of several major projects, including the P35.74-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway, P24.9-billion Metro Manila Flood Management Project, P23.2-billion NLEX-SLEX Connector Road and P3.35-billion Cagayan de Oro Coastal Road.

Meanwhile, the Department of Budget and Management on Tuesday transmitted the P7.2-trillion National Expenditure Program for fiscal year 2027, equivalent to 21.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and 6 percent higher than the P6.793-trillion budget for 2026.

Inflation remains a concern

Marcos also cited elevated inflation as another challenge to economic growth, pointing to tensions in the Middle East that pushed crude oil prices higher.

“So, all of these things were really to try and bring those levels down. Our inflation went down a little bit in the last quarter by about point two, point three percent. But we're still quite high,” he said.

Headline inflation eased to 6.2 percent in July 2026 from 6.4 percent in June.

The Philippine Statistics Authority said the average national inflation rate from January to July 2026 stood at 5 percent, still above the government’s 2 to 4 percent target range.