Gov’t budget utilization rate hits 87% in Feb.

GOVERNMENT agencies posted a budget utilization rate of 87% in February, ahead of the 83% year-earlier pace, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

In its latest Notice of Cash Allocations (NCAs) Utilization Report, the DBM reported that the National Government, local governments, and government-owned companies used P608.91 billion of their P700.22 billion in allocations by the end of February.

Unused NCAs stood at P91.31 billion, the DBM said.

NCAs are a quarterly disbursement authority that the DBM issues to agencies, allowing them to withdraw funds from the Bureau of the Treasury to support their spending needs.

As of the end of February, line departments utilized 81.9% of their allotments, equivalent to P373.84 billion out of P456.71 billion.

In the first two months, the Department of Foreign Affairs posted the highest budget usage rate at 98.1%.

It was followed by the Commission on Elections (96.5%), the Commission on Audit (95.6%), the Department of Tourism (94.3%), and the Commission on Human Rights (93.4%).

Meanwhile, the Judiciary recorded the lowest utilization rate of 49.5% as of the end of February.

The other departments posting low utilization rates were the departments of Labor and Employment (50.2%), the Agriculture (59.3%), Social Welfare and Development (60.2%), and Economy, Planning, and Development (61.6%).

Budgetary support to state-run firms amounting to P11.19 billion was 77.7% utilized as of the end of February.

Allocations to the local government units were 97.4% utilized, while the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority had a 99.9% utilization rate. — Justine Irish D. Tabile