Government infra spend still plummeting as of November

FILE PHOTO: A community in Barangay San Miguel, Calumpit, Bulacan is seen submerged in water on Monday, September 8, 2025, as a portion of a flood control along the Pampanga River is breached. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Government infrastructure spending continued its downward spiral for the fifth consecutive month as investigations into anomalous flood control projects persist and intensify.

The latest disbursement report from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed that spending on infrastructure and other capital outlays plummeted 45.2 percent to P48 billion in November. This was down P39.6 billion from the same month in 2024.

Month-on-month, the drop was steeper than the 40.1 percent decline to P65.9 billion in October.

“The spending performance of the Department of Public Works and Highways continued to post negative growth amid the ongoing probe and crackdown on corruption issues,” the DBM said.

“This consequently slowed down the implementation of its various infrastructure projects nationwide and affected the prompt submission of progress billings by contractors and processing of payment claims,” it added.

From January to November, infrastructure spending totaled P991 billion, down 16 percent from P1.18 trillion during the same period in 2024.

Already, the Philippine economy ended 2025 with a 16-year low growth rate of 3 percent in the fourth quarter.

Worse than Q3

This was worse than the revised 3.9 percent recorded in the third quarter.

Full-year growth settled at 4.4 percent, well below the government’s target of 5.5 to 6.5 percent.

State statisticians attributed the disappointing fourth quarter to a nearly 42-percent contraction in infrastructure spending. This was the worst since the second quarter of 2011, when outlays fell 62 percent also amid an antigraft campaign during the Aquino administration.

With this, the December figures on government infrastructure spending are likely to show further strain.

Yet again, the downward trajectory of infrastructure spending dragged total national government disbursements in November to P498.3 billion, down 9.6 percent year-on-year.

However, the 11-month total offered some relief, with disbursements reaching P5.4 trillion, up 2.5 percent from the same period in 2024.