The next chief of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) wants to revisit the first full-year budget that the incoming administration of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will submit to Congress.

Incoming Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said that the DBM staff will reconvene to go over the P5.268 trillion budget ceiling approved by the outgoing economic managers of President Duterte.

While Pangandaman admitted that the next administration has tight space for further adjustment, the incoming budget chief still wants to see if “there could be some elbow room to increase a little.”

“I asked them to try to do some number crunching, try to look at the budget because we don’t have enough fiscal space now,” Pangandaman said in an interview. “The marching order is to reconvene, and look at the numbers again. The technical staff are now reckoning the numbers.”

The 2023 budget cap pegged by the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee last March 24 is equivalent to 22.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. The amount is also higher than the P5.242 trillion approved in December 2021.

But Pangandaman believes the P5.268 budget ceiling is not yet set in stone with the government’s improving revenue collections as the economy continues to further reopen.

In particular, she noted that there were recent DBM releases coming from unprogrammed funds.

“You know, the unprogrammed funds, you will tap that if you have extra revenues,” Pangandaman explained. “If you have excess, that means we’re doing good until the end of the year, or in the coming year.”

To recall, President Duterte tapped the government’s excess revenues for the additional P2.5 billion in fuel subsidies and discounts to be given away as relief to public utility vehicle drivers, farmers and fishermen.

Last June 2, Pangandaman said President-elect Marcos wanted his 2023 National Expenditure Program, which will present the proposed budget allocation by agency, to be focused on priority areas anchored on economic reconstruction.

The next administration’s focus areas include agricultural and food security, climate change adaptation, economic recovery, as well as improved healthcare and education.

Moreover, the incoming chief executive wants to prioritize spending on enhanced infrastructure projects including digital infrastructure, and utilization of renewable energy sources.

The Marcos government also wants to strengthen tourism and jobs creation, as well as sustainable development, among others, she said.

“I aspire to draft and implement a budget that will promote a broad-based and inclusive economic recovery and growth,” Pangandaman said. “President-elect Marcos’ priority programs are in line with that.”