MANILA – The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is finalizing the submission to Congress of the P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 before deadline.
The deadline to submit the budget is 30 days after the President’s State of the Nation Address on July 22.
In a statement, the DBM said it is now in the process of finalizing the fiscal year 2020 National Expenditure Program as well as other budget documents for submission of the budget bill before August 21, 2019, after President Rodrigo Duterte and his Cabinet approved the proposed next year’s spending plan.
On Monday, Duterte approved the proposed P4.1-trillion budget for 2020 during the 40th Cabinet meeting in Malacañang.
“The Fiscal Year 2020 Budget aims to respond to the needs of the Filipino people, embody the hopes and dreams of every citizen, and realize the promises that were made by the Administration,” the DBM said.
“It will sustain the tremendous progress that the Philippines has made as a nation, hence the theme ‘Continuing the Journey to a More Peaceful and Progressive Philippines,’” it said.
The theme is consistent with the administration’s goal of becoming a middle-income country where no one lacks opportunities, according to the Budget department.
The P4.1-trillion budget is 12 percent higher than the P3.66 trillion approved for 2019.
Next year’s spending program is equivalent to 19.4 percent of the gross domestic product.
“Every peso of the proposed P4.1-trillion Fiscal Year 2020 Budget went through numerous levels of scrutiny and approval, and budget hearings and consultations with the agencies,” the DBM said.
“Every step of the budget process keeps in mind the objective of lifting millions of Filipinos out of poverty and creating opportunities for them,” it said.
Among the priority programs under the 2020 budget are infrastructure development, and the implementation of new and critical government programs and policies such as the Universal Health Care Act, the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the Rice Tariffication Act, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Programs Act, and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development Act.
Other priority programs to be funded under next year’s appropriations include the K-12 program, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, the Unconditional Cash Transfer Program, the Risk Resiliency Program, and the Coastal Resource Management Program. (GMA News)
