Gov’t spending efficiency improves

The national government’s cash utilization improved at the start of the second half of the year as the Marcos administration sought to ramp up spending to support economic growth, latest data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed.

According to the DBM’s latest Notices of Cash Allocation (NCA) report, the government’s utilization rate improved to 94.6 percent as of end-July, equivalent to P2.955 trillion used out of the P3.125 trillion released. The rate was better than the 94 percent recorded in the same period last year.

The amount of NCAs released in the first seven months was also nearly 5 percent higher than the P2.986 trillion recorded a year earlier.

NCAs refer to the authority issued by the DBM that allows agencies to withdraw funds from the Treasury to cover the cash requirements of their operations, programs and projects.

Line departments, which received the bulk of the releases, recorded a utilization rate of 92.2 percent, slightly higher than the 92 percent posted a year earlier. They used P1.988 trillion out of the P2.156 trillion released.

The Department of Education received the largest allocation among departments at P513.943 billion, of which P478.656 billion, or 93.1 percent, had been utilized.

The Department of Public Works and Highways followed with P320.131 billion in releases. It used P275.932 billion, translating to an 86.2-percent utilization rate and leaving P44.199 billion unused—the largest among departments.

Meanwhile, the Department of National Defense used 98.4 percent of its P238.590-billion allocation, with P234.878 billion disbursed.

Among agencies with lower utilization rates, the Office of the President posted a 69.4-percent rate (P7.41 billion of P10.68 billion), followed by the Presidential Communications Office at 72 percent (P1.5 billion of P2.1 billion), and the Civil Service Commission at 73.3 percent (P1.38 billion of P1.88 billion).

Outside the line departments, subsidies to state-run firms and allocations to local government units were almost fully utilized, with their combined utilization rate reaching 99.8 percent, better than the 99 percent recorded a year earlier.

Subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations reached a utilization rate of 98.9 percent (P132.12 billion of P133.64 billion), while allocations to LGUs were fully utilized at 100 percent (P835.14 billion of P835.47 billion).