Proposed 2016 Nat’l Budget to be Presented to Pres. Aquino Next Week

(PNA) — Economic managers are set to present to President Benigno Aquino III the proposed Php 3.005 trillion 2016 national budget Monday next week.

In a briefing Tuesday, Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said they will present the proposed budget before members of the Cabinet on Wednesday while it will be submitted by the President before Congress on July 28, a day after his State of the Nation Address (SONA).

The proposed national budget is 15.1 percent higher than the Php 2.606 trillion national budget for this year and will account to about 19.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Abad said debt service for next year would be about 14 percent of the national budget at about Php419 billion, bulk or 85 percent of which would be accounted for by domestic borrowings while the balance of 15 percent would be foreign borrowings.

The government has been increasing the share of domestic borrowings to take advantage of low interest rate environment in the country as well as the high liqudity situation.

Economic managers maintain that this decision enabled the government to lessen foreign exchange risks.

For 2015, government borrowings was set at Php 700.8 billion, about five percent of GDP. Bulk or 86 percent of this planned debt would be from onshore sources while 16 percent is eyed from external sources.

Relatively, Abad said infrastructure spending for next year was placed at Php 768 billion, which already includes those for local government units (LGUs).

The goverment has been increasing its infrastructure spending and targets this year to account to about five percent of GDP by 2016 to ensure that necessary infrastructure would be in place to ensure the sustained growth of the economy. (PNA) CTB/JS/EDS