92.3% of 2020 budget released as of end-June —DBM

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said Friday it has released P3.78-trillion, or 92.3% of the P4.10-trillion national budget for 2020 as of end-June.

In a statement, the DBM said the 92.3% of budget released in January to June is an improvement compared with the 85.5% of allotments released in the same period in 2019.

The bigger percentage of budget disbursement indicates the government’s commitment to continuously fund various programs and projects despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to the DBM.

As of June 30, 79.8% of allotment releases to line departments amounted to P2.08-trillion and include funds allocated for agencies in the Executive branch, Congress, the Judiciary, and other constitutional offices.

This leaves a balance of P526.31-billion for later release.

Meanwhile, out of the programmed P467.9-billion appropriations for Special Purpose Funds (SPFs), the DBM has released half of the allotments amounting to P234.45-billion.

SPFs are budgetary allocations in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) allocated for specific socio-economic purposes such as Budgetary Support to Government Corporations, Allocation to Local Government Units, Contingent Fund, Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund, and Pension and Gratuity Fund.

Allotment releases for automatic appropriations, or appropriations already prescribed by laws other than the GAA, reached P1.26-trillion.

"These include 100% of the FY 2020 program for the Internal Revenue Allotment of local government units, Block Grant for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Special Account in the General Fund, Net Lending, Interest Payments, and Tax Expenditures Fund/Customs Duties and Taxes," the DBM said.

The Budget department said it has also released P63.62-billion as of end-June from the continuing appropriations of the Fiscal Year 2019 GAA for line departments and releases from SPFs.

As for unprogrammed appropriations, P149.77-billion has been released, the DBM said.

Unprogrammed appropriations are standby appropriations which authorize additional agency expenditures for priority programs and projects when revenue collections exceed the resource targets or when additional grants or foreign funds are generated.

The DBM assured that it will continue to release the remaining funds for the rest of the year to support the operations of all national government agencies, especially those with projects and programs intended to mitigate and address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of June 24, the DBM said P374.89-billion has been released to fund various COVID-19 interventions. —LDF, GMA News