MANILA – The Department of Budget and Management vowed to implement reforms in ensuring quality spending to sustain growth of Philippine economy.
Higher government spending was among the reasons for the robust growth of the Philippine economy at 5.9 percent in the second quarter this year, which brought the first half’s result to 6.1 percent.
Growth, as measured by gross domestic product, in the second quarter of 2011 stood at 3.6 percent while first half 2011 growth is lower at 4.2 percent.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, in a statement to the official Philippine News Agency, said public construction from April to June this year went up to 45.7 percent “sustaining the strong showing exhibited in the first three months of the year” while final consumption expenditure rose by 5.9 percent.
He said: “In view of this, we in the DBM remain committed to the implementation of key reforms and measures that will ramp up and improve the quality of public spending to support rapid, inclusive, and sustained economic development.
“More importantly, we intend to further maximize every peso spent to enable the advancement of key economic sectors, such as agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, exports, and business process outsourcing.”
Abad said the Aquino administration is “confident that public spending will again make a significant impact on economic growth in the second half of this year.”
He cited that government disbursement as of last July has risen by 15 percent year-on-year.
“Overall, these developments vindicate exactly what this Administration has always campaigned for: that improved governance translates to genuine growth,” he added.
As of last July, government expenditures rose by 15.1 percent to P957.96 billion from year-ago’s P832.32 billion.
The disbursement program for the first three quarters this year is P1.35 trillion. (Joann Santiago)
20