DBM commits to submit 2020 budget in 2nd week of August

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is targeting to submit the P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 in  the second week of August.

“We commit to fulfilling our constitutional duty to submit this proposed budget within 30 days of the opening of Congress,” Budget Acting Secretary Janet Abuel said during a press conference after the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) meeting in Manila.

The 18th Congress will open on July 22, Monday, during which President Rodrigo Duterte will give his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA).

“Our target is not later than the second week of August,” Abuel said on Thursday.

“We will not be consuming the entire 30 days, but of course, we want to be also sure that we have considered everything and we have made close coordination with the persons and offices we need to coordinate... We have been talking and coordinating with the Congress,” the acting Budget chief said.

The P4.1-trillion budget is 12% higher than the P3.66-trillion approved for 2019.

Next year’s spending program is equivalent to 19.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

“This responds to the needs and captures the aspirations of the Filipino people,” Abuel said.

“The proposed 2020 national budget will continue to invest in public infrastructure and social services, while funding the priority programs of the Duterte administration such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, among other measures to promote economic growth and human capital development,” she said.

Among the priority programs under the 2020 budget are infrastructure development, and  the implementation of new and critical government programs and policies such as the Universal Health Care Act, the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the Rice Tariffication Act, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Programs Act, and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development Act.

Other priority programs to be funded under next year’s appropriations include the K-12 program, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, the Unconditional Cash Transfer Program, the Risk Resiliency Program, and the Coastal Resource Management Program. —VDS, GMA News