Infra spending still on track

The DPWH is optimistic that it can deliver its P725 billion disbursement target.

Disbursement for infrastructure and other capital outlay, a key contributor to local output measured as the gross domestic product (GDP), remains on track and seen hitting the target, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

“In the first ten months of the year, the total actual disbursements for infrastructure and other capital outlays reached P628.5 billion. This represents 73 percent of the full disbursement program of P895.5 billion but 5.5 percent lower than actual disbursements in the same period in 2018,” Dominguez told finance reporters.

“To attain our target disbursement of P3.77 trillion in 2019, the government needs to disburse P832 billion or 22 percent in the remaining two months of the year,” he added.

According to him, while disbursement slowed due to the delay in the passage of the 2019 budget, the government should still accomplish its spending target this year.

“Based on the updates from our main infrastructure agencies, we are confident we are going to hit our spending target this year. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is optimistic that it can deliver its P725 billion disbursement target,” the Cabinet official said.

Meanwhile, for the period January to 28 November this year, the Department of Transportation’s (DoTr) actual disbursement reached P46.82 billion. This represents 57 percent of its disbursement commitment this year, the highest rate achieved by the agency in terms of actual disbursements, he added.

Dominguez said both the DPWH and the DoTr committed to hit their respective disbursement targets for 2019.

In October alone, capital spending by the government totaled only P82.2 billion, 12.92 percent lower than the recorded P94.4 billion in the same month year-ago.

Previously, the government’s top economic officials expressed their confidence in their spending catch-up plan seen spurring economic activities and lift GDP expansion as well. “We remain optimistic that the economy will expand at a higher clip over the remaining two months of 2019 as the government continues to accelerate the implementation of ‘Build, Build, Build’ program and human capital development projects to make up for underspending earlier this year,” Dominguez said.

Likewise, the Cabinet official said the 6 percent GDP growth target is still on and remains attainable.

“We believe we will most likely hit the lower end of our 6 to 7 percent target and it looks like our continuous monitoring of projects and the removal of bottlenecks is paying off,” Dominguez said.