The national government is poised to surpass its infrastructure spending target for the year, fueled by the rapid implementation of various projects, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

In a report, the DBM said overall infrastructure disbursements are projected to hit P1.54 trillion from January to December 2024, equivalent to 5.8 percent of the country's economy, as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP),

If realized, it will exceed the Marcos administration's initial target of P1.5 trillion, or 5.6 percent of GDP.

The infrastructure disbursements include transfers to local government units and support for government-owned and controlled corporations involved in infrastructure activities.

The DBM attributed higher spending to the "accelerated implementation of infrastructure activities," including ongoing and carryover projects from the Department of Public Works and Highways and foreign-assisted railway projects under the Department of Transportation (DOTr). 

These projects also include those financed from the prior year's unappropriated allotments.

DBM added that this strong performance builds on the previous year's success, which also posted a 5.8 percent infrastructure-to-GDP ratio. 

The DBM, however, noted that these figures are based on actual disbursements up to September 2024 and estimated spending for the final quarter of the year. 

These estimates consider issued disbursement authorities and historical agency utilization of available cash allocations.

The DBM also cautioned that the final numbers could vary based on actual agency performance and any additional urgent or priority spending needs that may arise.

In October, the government's infrastructure spending increased by 2.5 percent to P110 billion, driven by ongoing road and bridge projects, from P107.3 billion in the same month of 2023.

This uptick followed a 13.2 percent rise in infrastructure spending for the first 10 months of the year.

However, this growth was partially offset by lower disbursements from the DOTr and the Department of National Defense (DND), which the DBM attributed to "varied timing in the release of funds and payment schedules for their flagship capital outlay projects."

“Lower disbursements were posted by the DOTr and DND due to the different timing of releases or schedule of payables for their big-ticket capital outlay items,” the DBM said. “These, in turn, weighed down the growth of infrastructure spending for October.”

Despite this, infrastructure spending from January to October 2024 showed a robust increase of 13.2 percent, reaching P1.09 trillion compared to P964.9 billion in the same period last year. This contributed to an overall 11.5 percent rise in government spending, totaling P4.73 trillion for the 10-month period.

The DBM noted that the strong spending performance was primarily fueled by a 21 percent increase in disbursements for maintenance and other operating expenses, along with a 4.9 percent rise in personnel services expenditures. 

However, the DBM also reported a decline in subsidies to government corporations and net lending, which partially moderated the overall growth in disbursements.