Govt hikes infra spending in January

Government spending for infrastructure and capital outlay investments accelerated in January, rising 43.1 percent to P16.4 billion, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). This, when combined with improved spending on agency maintenance and operations, pushed up total disbursements for the month to P157.9 billion, which was P15.6 billion or 11 percent higher than the P142.3 billion disbursements made in January 2012. “Already, we’re seeing a remarkable improvement in our expenditure performance, with infrastructure and capital outlay investments leading the way,” said Budget Secretary Florencio Abad on Monday. “We’re also intent on expanding the capabilities of our departments and agencies, beginning with increased spending for their banner socio-economic programs.” Maintenance and Other Operating Expenditures (MOOE) climbed by 48.9 percent or P9.8 billion due largely to the frontloading of cash grants for beneficiaries of the government's Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, the DBM said.   Personnel disbursements also grew to P40.8 billion in January, posting a 13.4-percent or P4.8 billion increase year-on-year,  due to the implementation of the last tranche of the Salary Standardization Law III (SSL III), as well as higher claims for retirement gratuity and terminal leave benefits. Transfers to Local Government Units (LGUs)  rose 11.6 percent in January as a result of higher Internal Revenue Allocation for 2013 and the partial provision of 2012 unreleased appropriations for LGU shares in the proceeds of the tobacco excise tax, the release of which depends on the submission of budgetary requests by beneficiary LGUs, accompanied with the list of projects, the DBM further said. — KBK, GMA News