Finance proposes lower 2019 budget
THE Finance department has proposed a lower budget for next year, with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd saying it wants “to set an example for other departments to operate efficiently.”
The department “voluntarily submitted a lower allocation” of P18.7 billion, he said, down from the P19.31 billion approved for this year.
“Next year’s budget for the DoF is also moored to the new cash-based budgeting system of the Duterte administration that is designed to improve the absorptive capacity of all government agencies,” Dominguez added.
The bulk of the outlay will go to the bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Treasury (BTr), which will get P8.1 billion and P6.05 billion, respectively, higher than the current year’s allocations due to operational costs and capital spending.
Dominguez said the BTr’s 2019 budget increased due to the need to pay the insurance premiums for government assets.
For the BIR, he said the increase was due to leases, ongoing construction of new offices, and information and
communications technology projects.
Increases attributed to salary adjustments were also proposed for attached agencies such as the Privatization and Management Office (P83.05 million from P76.01 million), National Tax Research Center (P66.11 million from P57.43 million) and the Central Board of Assessment Appeals (P20.66 million from P18.63 million).
Proposed outlays for other agencies under the department declined.
The budget of the Office of the Secretary (OSEC) was cut to P843.33 million from P1.23 billion, as well those for the Bureau of Customs or BoC (P2.61 billion from P4.59 billion), Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC (P618 million from P629.87 million) and the Bureau of Local Government Finance or BLGF (P269.03 million from P305.12 million).
Project completions were cited for the lower OSEC and BOC outlays while the cut for the SEC was attributed to low absorptive capacity. For the BLGF, the Finance department said a key project had yet to receive approvals.
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