The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will submit to Congress the Marcos administration’s first full-year 2023 proposed budget next week.

At the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) forum, Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said the proposed P5.268-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) will be submitted to the 19th Congress on Monday, Aug. 22.

Pangandaman said the 2023 NEP is anchored on the theme “Agenda for Prosperity: Economic Transformation Towards Inclusivity and Sustainability.”

“Our agenda for prosperity focuses on food safety and security and human capital and infrastructure development among other priority sectors,” Pangandaman said.

“It is anchored on the administration’s overarching goals of creating more quality and green jobs, reducing poverty incidence, promoting digitalization, and achieving an inclusive and resilient economy,” she added.

Pangandaman, meanwhile, expressed optimism that the 2023 national budget will be passed before the end of the year.

Under the Constitution, the executive department shall submit the proposed national budget to Congress within 30 days from the opening of the regular session of the Congress.

The 2023 budget cap is equivalent to 22.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Pangandaman said the Marcos administration’s top budget priorities, namely, education, health, social safety nets, infrastructure and agriculture.

She said education will continue to remain on top of the budget priorities as mandated by the Constitution.

Pangandalam also said that they plan to institutionalize the Cash-Based Budgeting System (CBS) or the Budget Modernization Bill to strengthen fiscal discipline among government employees.

The CBS aims to address bottlenecks in obligations, which will lead to on-time implementation and disbursement of the government’s programmed projects.