Gov�t seen funding ESP off-budget

According to draft budget estimates for the 2016/17 financial year passed onto BusinessWeek, recurrent expenditure will be flat at around P44 billion while the development budget will be a mere P2 billion higher, largely to a P1.3 billion rise in the budget for the Ministry of Defence, Justice and security.

 Funding for the ESP, which mostly comprises construction of houses, roads, schools and hospitals, would have been expected to fall within the development budget.