THE cash utilization rate of government agencies hit 99% at the end of March, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.
The DBM reported that the National Government, local governments, and state-owned companies used P1.12 trillion of the P1.13 trillion worth of notices of cash allocation (NCAs) issued as of the end of the first quarter.
This left P8.57 billion in unused allocations.
The budget utilization rate was on pace with the 99% rate posted a year earlier.
NCAs are a quarterly disbursement authority that the DBM issues to agencies, allowing them to withdraw funds from the Treasury to support their spending needs.
At the end of the first quarter, line departments used P797.38 billion or 99% of their allotments, leaving P7.23 billion unused.
Seventeen agencies posted a 100% budget usage rate in the three months to March including the Office of the Vice-President, State Universities and Colleges, and the departments of Education, Foreign Affairs, Health, Interior and Local Government, Labor and Employment, Migrant Workers, Social Welfare and Development and Tourism.
The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development, previously known as the National Economic and Development Authority, also posted a 100% budget usage rate.
Also turning in a 100% utilization rate were the Commissions on Human Rights, Elections, Audit, Civil Service, Civil Service, as well as the Judiciary and Office of the Ombudsman.
The departments of Human Settlements and Urban Development as well as of Agriculture posted the lowest usage rate of 78% and 85%, respectively.
Budgetary support to government-owned companies and allotments to local government units had a 100% utilization rate.
In the first quarter, government spending jumped 22.43% to P1.477 trillion. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante