President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the proposed P5.768-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2024 that will be submitted to Congress for review and revision, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said Friday.
Next year’s proposed national budget is equivalent to 21.8 percent of GDP and is 9.5 percent higher than the P5.268-trillion budget for 2023.
”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,” Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said.
Due to the limited fiscal space, the government optimized the allocation of resources by ensuring that the programs, activities, and projects that will be budgeted are implementation-ready, and must be delivered and executed on time.
”This entails that the agency proposals considered are clear, comprehensive, and complete in terms of submitted supporting documents such as feasibility studies and annual procurement plans,” Pangandaman said.
”We also referred to the agencies’ respective absorptive capacities, as we considered that a low budget utilization rate may reflect the agency’s limited capacity to utilize additional funds,” she added.
Pangandaman said they plan to submit the 2024 NEP to Congress a few weeks after Marcos’ second State of the Nation Address on July 24.
Under the Constitution, the NEP must be submitted to Congress within 30 days following the SONA.
