Infra spending hit record P 1.12T in 2021, says DBM

Public infrastructure spending surged to a record-high P1.12 trillion in 2021, equivalent to 5.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), as more road, airport, and railway projects were rolled out last year when the economy further reopened from the most stringent COVID-19 lockdowns two years ago.

Last year’s total infrastructure disbursements —which included projects implemented by the national government, as well as infrastructure-related transfers to local governments plus subsidies and equity injected into state-run corporations —climbed 29.2 percent from P869.9 billion in 2020, the latest Department of Budget and Management (DBM) data released on Friday showed. To recall, infrastructure spending took a backseat in 2020 as hundreds of billions of pesos in funds had been reallocated into COVID-19 response at the onset of the pandemic.

The total amount spent on infrastructure last year exceeded by a tenth the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s P1.02-trillion program, equivalent to 5.6 percent of GDP. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, public infrastructure spending already breached the P1-trillion mark with P1.05 trillion or 5.4 percent of GDP disbursed in 2019.

The national government’s infrastructure and other capital outlays in 2021 jumped 31.3 percent to P895.1 billion from P681.5 billion in 2020. Actual national government spending on infrastructure last year also surpassed the programmed P761.2 billion by 17.6 percent.

“The significant expansion in infrastructure and other capital outlays was due to the combined effects of the lower base in 2020 with the discontinuation of some capital outlay projects which can no longer be implemented or completed due to the pandemic pursuant to the Bayanihan 1 and 2 [laws]; and the implementation of various infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways nationwide (such as road network, flood control, construction of multi-purpose buildings), and the aviation and rail transport foreign-assisted projects of the Department of Transportation such as the Tacloban, Kalibo, and Bukidnon airport projects, and the Metro Manila Subway project phase 1,” the DBM said in a report.

“Capital outlays of other departments such as the revised Armed Forces of the Philippines modernization program of the Department of National Defense and the health facilities enhancement program of the Department of Health also contributed to higher infrastructure spending” last year, the DBM added. INQ

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The article was originally published in Inquirer and written by Ben O. de Vera.