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By Chino S. Leyco and Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporters
THE Philippines plans to front-load its
infrastructure and social spending in the first quarter to
counteract the likely impact of a possible US recession and sustain
domestic economic growth at the high end of the Arroyo
government’s target.
Speaking at her administration’s year-end
economic briefing, President Arroyo on Friday said the government
would release P200 billion to fund infrastructure projects.
On the sidelines of the briefing, Budget
Secretary Rolando G. Andaya Jr. said 60 percent of this year’s
capital outlays, or an estimated P113 billion, would be released in
the first three months to keep the domestic economy afloat amid a
US-led global slowdown.
“Like what I did last year, 60 percent [will
be spent on the] first quarter. This is not spending, it’s
authority to implement,” Andaya told reporters.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto B.
Santos said the Philippines is likely to sustain its growth record
last year, citing higher government spending and exports.
“I think 7 percent growth in [the first
quarter] is possible. The government is planning to release more
funds for spending particularly in infrastructure,” Santos
separately told reporters on the sidelines of the same briefing.
“We want to spend more to boost the
economy,” he said adding the strong growth in exports last
December will contribute to overall expansion in the first three
months of the year. The National Statistics Office earlier reported
that December exports were up by 21.4 percent as electronics
shipments, the bulk of Philippine sales abroad, grew 12.3 percent
during the period.
In the fourth quarter last year, the economy, as
measured by the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.4
percent, allowing the Philippines to register a 31-year record
expansion of 7.3 for 2007.
For this year, the government targets GDP
growth of 6.3 percent to 7 percent.
Santos said agriculture is projected to grow 5
percent to 7 percent this year; industry, 6.4 percent to 7.1
percent; and services, 6.6 percent to 7.3 percent.
“Strong domestic demand, boosted by public
investments in infrastructure, will enforce expectations of high
growth and offer long-run returns to investments even during a
slowdown in global growth,” he said.
Andaya said the plan to increase spending would
be carried out parallel to the government’s goal of balancing its
budget this year.
“Infrastructure and social services are
priority sectors for accelerated spending,” he said, adding the
total capital outlays this year is higher than last year’s P92.6
billion.
For this year, the government had proposed a
P1.23 trillion budget. Andaya said the General Appropriations Act of
2008 should be signed by middle of next month.
In the first seven months last year, the Arroyo
administration’s infrastructure program failed to meet targeted
spending.
Andaya said the government only disbursed P109.4
billion for capital outlays, or P7.4-billion short of the
P89.6-billion programmed for the period.
He admitted that the government failed to
meet its infrastructure spending program due to expected lag in the
use of Notices of Cash Allocation (NCA) by agencies.
An NCA allows an agency to pay an
obligation incurred based on a budgetary allocation.
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