P581-B Freed Up for New Programs in 2016 — DBM

There will be more room in the 2016 national budget for new socio-economic programs, thanks to a new budgeting approach by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

In line with the Aquino administration’s efforts to craft a national budget that would be responsive to the needs of all Filipinos, the DBM has adopted the Two-Tier Budgeting Approach (2TBA) for FY 2016, which resulted in the creation of budgetary space amounting to around P581 billion for expanded and new programs and projects.

“The DBM was able to come up with this estimated fiscal space thanks to the Two-Tier approach, which gives agencies a better focus on program planning. Under this approach, government departments are able to prioritize which of their programs they can concentrate on to accommodate more productive expenditures,” said DBM Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad.

This fiscal space for new programs and projects comprises 20 percent of the proposed Php3-trillion budget for FY 2016 and is more than double than last year’s fiscal space of Php287 billion.

Around 80 percent of the proposed budget — or Php2.42 trillion — would be allotted to the implementation of existing or ongoing programs and projects of the government.

The National Government came up with the Php581-billion fiscal space estimate in the wake of their Tier 1 assessment of the budgetary process, which looked at the projected budgetary requirements of ongoing programs and projects.

Currently, the DBM is conducting Tier 2 consultations as part of the Technical Budget Hearings (TBH), where budget proposals for new or expanded programs and projects can be submitted for consideration. However, departments and agencies shall ensure their proposals are supportive of the strategies and objectives identified in the Budget Priorities Framework (BPF) and they will need to justify these during the consultation process, which started last May 18.

The Two-Tier Budgeting Approach had been instituted by DBM under the National Budget Memorandum (NBM) No. 123, which separates deliberations of ongoing programs and projects from the expansion and new spending proposals.

“Using the Two-Tier approach, we’re able to fine-tune our budget process by establishing a clearer framework to determine the allocations for ongoing programs and projects. We’ve also set up a process to evaluate new and expanded proposals so as to encourage agencies to think of more innovative programs and projects that will benefit Filipinos. This allows us at the DBM to focus on the evaluation of these new spending proposals in terms of their quality and significance,” Abad said.

The proposed FY 2016 National Budget of Php3.0 trillion is higher by 15.1 percent more than the FY 2015 Budget of Php2.606 billion, or an increase of Php394 billion. (PNA) LGI/DBM-PR/EDS