Philippine government spending hits 65.22 billion USD in 2018

Hanoi (VNA) - The Philippines' actual disbursements in 2018 was estimated at 3.41 trillion pesos (65.22 billion USD), Philippine Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on March 6.

The amount is slightly higher than the programmed disbursements of 3.37 trillion pesos (64.46 billion USD), said Diokno, who was recently appointed as the governor of the Philippine central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

This reverses 12 straight years of underspending where actual disbursements of the national government fell short of the programme, he said.

Spending was gone more into public infrastructure and personnel services, he said, adding that spending for infrastructure reached 886.2 billion pesos (16.96 billion USD), which is higher than the target of 868.6 billion pesos (16.63 billion USD) and is equivalent to 5.1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

The Duterte administration is now carrying out its aggressive infrastructure modernisation programme and reform agenda at full throttle to prop up the country's status as Asia's new economic powerhouse.

The economy expanded by 6.2 percent during the year, recording 20 consecutive years of growth that proved true its resiliency to external headwinds.-VNA