By Alec Go
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has approved the P5.768 trillion National Expenditure Program or the proposed budget plan for 2024, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) announced Friday, June 23.
The DBM said the proposed budget is higher than the 2023 budget of P5.268 trillion and equivalent to 21.8% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
According to Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, the DBM received budget proposals amounting to P5.90 trillion.
“Due to the limited fiscal space, we optimized the allocation of resources by ensuring that the [programs, activities, and projects] that will be budgeted are implementation-ready, and must be delivered and executed on time,” she said.
“This entails that the agency proposals considered are clear, comprehensive, and complete in terms of submitted supporting documents such as feasibility studies and annual procurement plans,” she added.
Pangandaman said the budget will prioritize economic growth-centered expenditures that are consistent with the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, and the administration’s 8-point socioeconomic agenda.
The official added that these will also help in reaching the target to become an upper-middle-income country, “while bringing down the deficit to 3% of GDP and reducing the poverty rate to 9% or single digit by 2028.”
“It shall continue to reflect our commitment to pursue economic and social transformation to address the scarring effects of the pandemic, as well as the impact of inflation, by prioritizing shovel-ready investments in infrastructure projects, investments in human capital development, and sustainable agriculture and food security, among others,” she said.
The budget is up for transmittal to the Congress weeks after the second State of the Nation Address of the President.
The program will become a General Appropriations Bill once approved by the Congress, and will become a law once signed by President Marcos Jr. – cf
