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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Banking & Finance devider Public works, agriculture bottlenecks slow national budget releases at end-February

Public works, agriculture bottlenecks slow national budget releases at end-February

Published Mar 23, 2026 12:00 am  |  Updated Mar 21, 2026 04:29 pm

At A Glance

  • Due in part to slower budget releases for public works and agriculture, the Philippine government's allotment release pace slowed down as of end-February, with only 63.5 percent of the national budget released compared to the same period last year.

Due in part to slower budget releases for public works and agriculture, the Philippine government’s allotment release pace slowed as of end-February, with only 63.5 percent of the national budget released in the first two months of 2026.

According to the Feb. 28 status report from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the government has released ₱4.31 trillion of its total ₱6.793-trillion fiscal year (FY) 2026 national budget.

While the absolute amount released is higher than the ₱4.24 trillion released at end-February 2025, the overall pace of fund releases has slowed from the 67-percent rate recorded a year ago.

Notably, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was the main bottleneck. For its nearly halved budget for 2026, the DPWH has released only ₱63.9 billion, or 12.1 percent, of its reduced ₱530.1-billion allocation.

This is a sharp deceleration from February last year, when the DPWH had already released 47.1 percent of its much larger trillion-peso allocation.

Similarly, the Department of Agriculture (DA) saw a decline in its release rate, dropping from 83 percent in 2025 to 55 percent this year.

As of end-February, the general appropriations act (GAA) rollout slowed to 66.1 percent, down from the 70.6 percent seen during the same period in 2025.

This was largely driven by a bottleneck in special purpose funds (SPFs), which saw less than one-fifth of their ₱719.4-billion total allocation released by the end of February.

Meanwhile, automatic appropriations have remained a steady anchor for fiscal activity.

For one, the government maintained a 100-percent release rate for national tax allotments (NTA), or local government units’ (LGUs) shares, totaling ₱1.19 trillion. Block grants also achieved a full release of ₱93.98 billion.

Funds for retirement and life insurance also saw near-instantaneous release to agencies to support personnel benefits.

Despite the overall slowdown, several key departments continue to demonstrate high efficiency.

For instance, the Department of Education (DepEd) has released 82.7 percent of its ₱961.3-billion program.

Similarly, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of National Defense (DND) maintained a strong pace at 90.3 percent and 94.9 percent, respectively.

As of end-February, the government still holds an unreleased balance of ₱2.48 trillion from this year’s national budget.

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