News Update PHL govt to address undespending

The national government and its agencies are now coordinating with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to address the utilization of the 2011 budget. “The national government departments and agencies are now working with the Department of Budget and Management to seriously address the bottlenecks in fund utilization,” Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said Tuesday. The DBM revealed that it has released 85 percent of the P72.11 billion programmed disbursement package for the year. As of Dec. 6, the DBM released P61.28 billion to state agencies and government-owned or -controlled corporations. Of this amount, P41.66 billion was released since October when the Disbursement Acceleration Plan was approved by President Benigno Aquino III. “This is about P15 billion or 56 percent higher than the P26.64-billion disbursement level as of November eight,” Abad said. By mid-December, the DBM is targeting to release P4.1 billion to meet 65 percent of the Disbursement Acceleration Plan. Abad added the DBM is closely watching the implementation of priority programs and projects by government agencies, in accordance with the acceleration plan. Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran confirmed in a separate interview with reporters that the government is closely watching specific agencies, especially on how they can improve their absorptive capacity. Among the projects under the acceleration program with notable disbursements are the National Housing project (P11.05 billion), and the equity infusion for credit insurance and mortgage guaranty operation of the Home Guaranty Corporation and the Trade and Investment Development Corp. (Tidcorp) of the Philippines worth P970 million. Home Guaranty was allotted P400 million, while Tidcorp received P570 million. DBM also earmarked P75 million for the establishment of a centralized credit information system. Other fund disbursements are for the Department of Health (P294 million), local government units (P2.75 billion), and the Department of Science and Technology (P331 million) for its purchase of three Doppler radars and establishment of the National Meteorological and Climate Center. – KG/VS