Gov't agencies to submit catch-up plans to address underspending
Stressing the importance of government spending and disbursements to the country’s overall economic growth, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman issued Circular Letter No. 2023-10, requiring agencies to submit “catch-up plans” to facilitate budget execution for the rest of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023.
“Consistent with the objectives of the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework, the
National Government shall mobilize and utilize public resources in order to
gain the maximum benefits and high multiplier effects for the economy,” DBM
Sec. Pangandaman stated in the Circular Letter.
"Given the sizable FY 2023 national budget, government agencies shall
execute their programs and projects as authorized in the annual budget and
deliver planned results in a timely manner to help buttress robust economic
growth," the secretary added.
The DBM issued the guidelines for budget utilization following the latest cash
operations report of the Bureau of the Treasury showing that the national government
spent below the P2.582 trillion disbursement program for the first semester by
P170.5 billion or 6.6 percent as of 30 June 2023.
“As what I would always emphasize, we consider budget utilization rates in
evaluating the absorptive capacity of agencies. We view low utilization rate as
the agency’s limited capacity to utilize new funds. However, those agencies who
need to increase their utilization rates have promised to produce catch-up
plans during the budget deliberations. So, we hope that their BURs will
increase by then,” the secretary said.
The circular letter likewise seeks to ascertain the underlying causes or
reasons for underperformance and undertake measures to address them. Government
agencies were also instructed to conduct data analysis on a periodic basis for
the identification of agency programs and projects with historical trends of
low disbursement rates. This is to compare actual performance versus specified
measures and targets and identify leading indicators for each program, sub-program
and project to signal the need for catch-up plans for delays or
underperformance.
Agencies shall then come up with delivery and execution strategies to address
actual implementation bottlenecks/ delays of these programs and projects and
submit to the DBM the following: latest available financial and physical
accomplishments; status of major/flagship programs/projects under FYs 2022 and
2023, particularly those with significant budgetary allocations; and
"catch-up plans" to address the bottlenecks and reach their
respective physical and financial performance targets for the year.
“These measures are to ensure efficiency in budget utilization to achieve
maximum benefits and high multiplier effects for the economy,” Pangandaman
explained. Reports will then become the basis of the DBM for the release of the
balance of programmed appropriation and revision of plans/targets, as
necessary. (DBM/PIA-Caraga)
