MANILA, Aug. 25 (PNA) — The Philippine government has started to boost its spending since June this year in order to support the economic growth, said Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Undersecretary Richard Moya.
Moya told reporters on Tuesday that the government targets to further increase its spending throughout the year to continue the upbeat gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
During the first quarter of this year, the country’s GDP growth eased to 5.2 percent from 6.6-percent expansion in the same period last year as the government spending was 13 percent below its spending goal.
For the first quarter (Q1) of 2015, the government’s expenditure target was at Php582.2 billion but its actual spending only reached Php504 billion.
Moya, however, noted that the government has been increasing its spending every year since the Aquino administration took over.
In fact, he said, the Php504-billion government spending in Q1 2015 was 4.0 percent higher than the same period in 2014.
The DBM executive mentioned that bulk of the unspent budget of the government is in the education sector.
He explained that the slow spending for construction of classrooms was due to Department of Education’s (DepEd) comprehensive identification of where to build schools nationwide, although the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is in charge of school construction.
Moya said the government is expected to spend more in infrastructure projects in the remaining months of the year.
He mentioned that he expects an above-six-percent GDP growth for the second quarter of 2015 after the government boosted its spending in June and supported by strong private consumption which accounts for two thirds of the country’s economy. (PNA)