BUDGET Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said the proposed P5.75-trillion 2024 national budget will sustain the priority sectors in this year’s budget, including infrastructure, agriculture, health and education.
In a statement, Pangandaman said the national government will continue to “prioritize” expenditure items that will “steer the economy back on a high growth path.”
Pangandaman added that the 2024 budget remains in line with the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework and the administration’s 8-point socioeconomic agenda.
“We will continue the infrastructure program of the national government, from Build, Build, Build to Build, Better, More, from 5 [to] 6 percent of GDP, now this year, it’s 5.8 percent. So we’re still working on the 2024 budget, so we need to adhere to that,” Pangandaman said.
The Budget Secretary also stressed the need to hike the funding for the agriculture sector to boost domestic food production, considering the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We all know that this year, we increased it to about 40 percent because from previous years it seemed that we did not give enough investment. The support for agriculture was always low,” Pangandaman said.
“But when the pandemic happened, everything closed—our value chains stopped, and it is important we have enough food in our country,” she added.
Pangandaman added that support will likewise be given to the health and education sectors, including the upgrading of skills of the country’s workforce.
Based on its 2024 Budget Priorities Framework, the DBM said the expenditure priorities next year are: infrastructure development, food security, digital transformation, enterprise development, human capital development, climate action and disaster resilience, strategic directions in transition to full devolution, and research, development, and innovation.
The DBM earlier stressed that “timely” release of budget is “crucial” in the implementation of the government’s various programs and projects as the national government prepares for the P5.75-trillion budget next year. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/06/02/timely-fund-release-in-%e2%82%a75-75-t-budget-eyed/)
The DBM has expressed optimism that the national government’s proposed 2024 budget would be approved within its published timeline.
The DBM pointed out that only “implementation-ready” programs, activities and projects (PAPs) will be included in the 2024 national budget to prevent “unnecessary delays.”