Marcos approved proposed P5.768T 2024 budget —DBM

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said Friday that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. already approved the proposed P5.768 trillion national budget during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday. 

The proposed 2024 national budget is 9.5% higher compared to this year's P5.268 trillion budget. 

Pangandaman said the proposed budget focuses on prioritizing expenditures for the country's economic growth and addressing the effects of inflation.

“Guided by our Medium-Term Fiscal Framework, the proposed national budget will continue to prioritize expenditures outlined in the administration's 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda and cater to the objectives of PDP 2023-2028," said Pangandaman in a statement.

"It shall continue to reflect our commitment to pursue economic and social transformation to address the scarring effects of the pandemic, as well as the impact of inflation, by prioritizing shovel-ready investments in infrastructure projects, investments in human capital development, and sustainable agriculture and food security, among others,” she added.

She also said the budget was crafted "as an indispensable step towards the overarching goal to attain upper-middle-income status while bringing down the deficit to 3% of GDP and reducing the poverty rate to 9% or single digit by 2028."

Pangandaman said since the proposed budget was approved by the President during the meeting, "it already becomes the President's Budget."

"Any adjustments in the proposed amounts will result in a zero-sum game where one agency's gain will be equivalent to another agency's loss; or one project's gain is another project's loss,” Pangandaman said.

She said the budget would be submitted to Congress a few weeks after the second State of the Nation Address of the President in July.

The DBM chief said all concerned agencies should exert all efforts to support and defend the President’s Budget and the budget levels during congressional deliberations. —VAL, GMA Integrated News