Economic targets on track

Joshua Lao · Oct 25, 2019, 2:20 AM

The country’s economic targets as inflation and the budget deficit remain on track given the impact of accelerated disbursement gaining traction in September, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

“Actual disbursements from January to September this year amounted to P2.62 trillion, which represents 98 percent of the program P2.68 trillion in disbursements for the period. This is actually higher than the actual disbursements for the same period of 2018,” Dominguez told reporters at the sidelines of the economic cluster meeting on Wednesday.

“Total program disbursements for 2019 is P3.76 trillion. To attain this target, the government needs to disburse P1.14 trillion or 30 percent this fourth quarter. Based on the updates of our main infrastructure agencies, we are confident we are going to hit our spending target this year,” he added.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury show actual nine-month disbursements for infrastructure and other capital outlays totaling P546.3 billion, representing 92 percent of the programmed P594.5 billion.

According to Dominguez, the country’s key infrastructure agencies as the Departments of Transportation (DoTr) and of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are confident the accelerated spending will help lift the country’s local output growth measured as the gross domestic product (GDP) back to its target.

“DPWH is confident it can deliver on its P725 billion disbursement target for the whole of 2019. For the first nine months of 2019, so far it has disbursed a total of 424.7 billion, Secretary Villar assured that the P300.3 billion target for the last quarter is attainable,” Dominguez said.

“As of 3 September, the DoTr’s actual disbursement, reached P43.7 billion, it expects to disburse P51.37 billion in the last quarter to fulfill 99 percent of its commitment of the P82 billion or 2019,” he added.

With these, Dominguez said the growth outlook is seen to expand at a faster pace over the remaining months of the year as inflation stays within the government’s target of 2 to 4 percent.