State agencies’ budget utilization rises in Jan-July
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2019 16:25:25 +0000
THE budget utilization of government agencies has improved in the first seven months of 2019, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) reported on Thursday.
In a statement, the Budget department said agencies used P1.569 trillion of the P1.688 trillion released under the Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) from January to July.
This translates to a utilization ratio of 93 percent, compared with 78 percent in the same period in 2018.
NCAs refer to disbursement authorities issued by the DBM to government servicing banks, such as the Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines and Philippine Veterans Bank, to cover the cash requirements of agencies’ programs, activities and projects. NCAs are valid up to the last working day of the quarter covered.
“A higher NCA utilization rate demonstrates the capacity of line agencies to timely disburse their allocated funds and implement their programs and projects,” the department explained.
DBM data also showed agencies that posted the highest utilization ratio of 100 percent were the Commission on Elections, using P8.139 billion out of P8.141 billion; and Commission on Human Rights using P463 million out of P465 million.
The Department of Energy had the lowest budget utilization ratio of 57 percent, using only P847 million of its P1.476-billion allocation.
Unused NCAs amounted to P188.76 billion as of end-July.
In a recent report, the Budget department said it was closely coordinating and working with agencies to accelerate budget execution and catch up with this year’s spending target.
“The department is also monitoring the status of agency disbursements, particularly the big departments, which are expected to drive spending for the rest of the year,” it added.
State spending in June declined by 0.99 percent to P275.7 billion from P278.5 billion, pulling down the year-to-date tally 0.8 percent to P1.590 trillion.