DBM: 93.8% or P2.953-T budget allotment to gov’t agencies released

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released 93.8% of the total budget allotment to agencies as of the end of the first quarter of 2023.

In a statement, the DBM said that it has released P2,953,344,220,000, or 93.8% of the P3.16 trillion specific budgets of the various national government departments or agencies as of March 31, 2023.
 
“Since the start of the year, we [have continued] to ensure the timely release of all budget allotments in adherence to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s call for swifter implementation of programs and projects,” the Budget Department said.
 
“In order to instill fiscal discipline and promote bureaucratic efficiency among government agencies, the DBM likewise emphasized in this year’s Budget Call that we will look into the agencies' previous year's budget utilization and performance as part of the evaluation procedure under the budget preparation process, given our limited resources,” it added.

The DBM said it continues to urge implementing agencies to ramp up their disbursements and spending, as low cash utilization rates will lead to a reduction in their funding for the upcoming year.
 
“While disbursements and project implementation can be best explained by the agencies themselves, and given that most of the budget is already released, the DBM hopes that procurement procedures are already underway on the part of the agencies to facilitate the implementation of their respective projects, especially in the infrastructure sector,” it said.  —VBL, GMA Integrated News