Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the early approval of the 2023 government budget will play a significant role in fueling optimism over next year’s growth prospects.
Diokno said the swift enactment of the 2023 General Appropriations Act is among the reasons for his optimistic view about the economy.
“This is especially relevant for public construction which is about one-fifth of the P5.2 trillion national budget,” Diokno said in a statement.
He said the early passage of the 2023 spending plan would enable agencies to start implementing their programs and projects as early as January.
He said this is especially critical for infrastructure departments like the Department of Public Works and Highways and Department of Transportation because construction is best done in the first six months of the year or during the dry season.
“Ideally, public construction has to start in the first half of the year because of the favorable weather conditions: more sunny, less rainy days,” Diokno said.
The 2023 GAA is the fastest passage of the national budget the government has seen in recent years. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed gratitude for the legislature’s strong support, led by House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and House appropriations committee chairman and Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co.
Marcos said the timely passage of the GAA would allow the country to position itself in the new economy.
Many institutions and experts predicted a global recession in 2023, and consequently, downgraded the Philippines’ gross domestic product growth outlook to less than 6 percent.
The inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee expects the economy to grow by 6.0 percent to 7.0 percent in 2023 in the face of external headwinds.
Diokno also lauded Congress for the early adoption of the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework FY 2023-2028, which President Marcos unveiled in his State of the Nation Address in July.
He said the MTFF serves as the administration’s “North Star” as it pursues economic and social transformation within a regime of fiscal consolidation.
He said both the Executive and Legislative departments were on the same page, pursuing the same national aspirations, at least for the next three years.
He said this unprecedented achievement and display of unity may yet be the envy of all democratic governments in the world.