The difficulty of spending P13bn in a year

An analysis of the development budget and how it has been spent in the past few years, does little to raise confidence that Finance Minister, Peggy Serame’s proposed allocation of P12.7 billion for projects, will see each and every thebe go where it needs to go and achieve what it needs to achieve.

According to notes from the Finance Ministry, between the 2016-17 and 2020-21 fiscal years, an average of 88% of the development budgets allocated through that period were actually spent, or just over four of every five thebe.