Proposed 2022 national budget could reach P5.024T -DBCC

The proposed 2022 budget could reach P5.024 trillion, according to the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), as economic managers expect the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to bounce back by as much as 10 percent that year.

"Consistent with the macroeconomic assumptions and foregoing fiscal targets, the proposed FY 2022 cash budget is pegged at P5.024 trillion," the Department of Budget and Management said in a joint statement at the 178th DBCC meeting.

 At the Laging Handa briefing on Saturday, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said the amount will be higher than the 2021 proposed budget. "Kaya naman ginagawa po lahat ng ating pamahalaan at ng economic team at sa 2022 nga hinahanda na natin 'yung budget call natin. Aangat ng about 11.5 percent ang level ng ating proposed budget for 2022... That is about 22.2 percent of GDP."

The proposed national budget for 2021 is P4.506 trillion.

Avisado made the statement as economic managers expect the GDP to bounce back from between 6.5% and 7.5% percent in 2021 to between 8% and 10% in 2022.

The Philippine economy contracted by 11.5% in the third quarter, -16.9% in the second quarter, and by -0.7% in the first quarter, bringing the year-to-date average to -10%.

"Hopefully it will further go down pa. For next year ang inaasahan natin ay instead, sa ngayon negative tayo, babalik tayo sa positive. Hopefully between 6.5 to 7.5 ang ating economic growth next year. At tataas 'yan ng from 8 to 10 sa 2021," Avisado said.

Meanwhile, the country’s economic performance in 2020 is expected to contract deeper than earlier projected due to lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting community quarantines to contain its spread, according to the revised macroeconomic assumptions of the Philippines’ economic managers.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) said in a joint statement that “the emerging Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate assumption for 2020 has been adjusted to -8.5 to -9.5 percent, following the prolonged imposition of community quarantines in various regions in the country.”

The revised full-year 2020 GDP outlook is worse than the -5.5% earlier projected by the economic team in August. -MDM, GMA News