DBM: 2024 Budget Will Focus On Addressing Global Recession and Economic Scarring

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released its budget call for the spending plan for 2023 which will target tackling issues related to a possible global recession and economic scarring from the pandemic.

“The 2024 budget is poised to respond to the expected continuing headwinds brought about by the Russia-Ukraine war, the external recessionary pressures which inflation has stoked, and the economic scarring which COVID-19 has wrought on our economy,”  mentioned the DBM.

The National Budget Call notes the beginning of the budget preparation for the administration.

According to the Development Budget Coordination Committee, the proposed 2024 budget is set at ₱5.8 trillion. This is a 10% increase from the 2023 national budget which was set at ₱5.268 trillion.

The DBM has stated that “The government will continue to implement risk-managed interventions in areas of food security, transport and logistics, energy, bureaucratic efficiency, and fiscal management, health, education, and social protection, to ensure the unimpeded and adequate delivery of social services, mitigate inflation pressures, accelerate economic recovery, and address economic scarring,”

For 2023, the Philippine economy is set to expand by 6 – 7% while dealing with inflation, global recession, and increasing borrowing costs.

In 2022, the average inflation rate grew to a 14-year high of 5.8%. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) predicts inflation to decrease to 4.5% in 2023.

The DBM has mentioned that the budget for 2024 will include “implementation-ready” proposals from government agencies.

“This means that the agencies’ budget proposals are expected to contain concrete program plans and designs that outline key procurement and implementation milestones, including specific project locations and beneficiaries,”

Source: Business World