2024 national budget set at P5.768 trillion - DBCC

The full-year budget that the Marcos administration will have to spend in 2024 was set at P5.768 trillion, the economic managers announced Friday.

"Consistent with the macroeconomic assumptions and foregoing fiscal targets, the national government is currently preparing the Fiscal Year 2024 proposed national budget, amounting to P5.768 trillion, higher by 9.5% compared to this year’s [P5.268 trillion] budget," Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said at a press conference following the 185th meeting of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC). 

The DBCC, chaired by the Budget chief, is also composed of the secretaries of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Finance (DOF), as well as the governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The proposed budget next year is equivalent to 21.8% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to Pangandaman, who read the DBCC’s joint statement.

In January, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) called on government departments and agencies to prepare their budget proposals for 2024.

"The proposed national budget will continue to prioritize expenditure items that promote social and economic transformation through infrastructure development, food security, digital transformation, and human capital development," the DBCC said.

"Acknowledging the competing demands of government programs against a backdrop of limited resources, we shall ensure that the FY 2024 National Expenditure Program will only include implementation-ready agency proposals," it added.

Pangandaman said that the proposed 2024 budget "will still provide for the cash assistance programs of the national government, which are present in the 2023 budget."

Under the 2023 budget, the government set aside P206.5 billion for subsidies and cash support, or ayuda, to mitigate the impact of high inflation.

Pangandaman said that next year’s spending plan will be consistent with the administration's Philippine Development Plan and Medium-Term Fiscal Framework.

The 2024 budget, she said, will focus on strengthening the purchasing power of Filipinos, reducing vulnerability, mitigating scarring from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ensuring macroeconomic fundamentals.

The administration aims to submit the proposed 2024 budget nearly a week after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24. 

"We have a constitutional deadline. We have to submit it 30 days after the SONA. But from our end, from our own timeline, we’ll present the NEP (National Expenditure Program) to the Cabinet on June 22. We’ll finalize after, and maybe after the SONA, maybe three to five days, we will present it to the Congress," she said.

Revenues, disbursements

The economic managers pegged next year’s disbursements to reach P5.564 trillion or 21% of GDP.

State revenues, meanwhile, are projected to reach P4.201 trillion or 15.9%.

The fiscal deficit is expected to decline to 5.1% of GDP in 2024 from the projected 6.1% by the end of 2023.

Pangandaman said that in the first four months of the year, actual revenues stood at P1.26 trillion, up 11.2%, "due to improved tax administration."

For this year, revenues are projected to reach P3.729 trillion and further rise to P6.622 trillion in 2028 through the implementation of revenue-generating measures over the medium term.

Pangandaman said the fiscal deficit is targeted to gradually reach the pre-pandemic level of 3% of GDP in 2028.  —VBL, GMA Integrated News