Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno assured legislators on Friday that the proposed 2023 national budget of P5.268 trillion, representing a 4.9-percent increase over the 2022 allocation, will support continued economic growth.
“Allow me to assure Congress that the economic team’s proposed 2023 budget will bolster our country’s bid for a strong recovery and accelerated growth. With capable leaders at the helm and the right policy tools, we face the next six years with full confidence in our bold socioeconomic agenda,” Diokno said during the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s briefing for the House committee on appropriations.
The Marcos administration’s economic team presented to the committee the state of the economy, the country’s fiscal performance and borrowing efforts, an overview of the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework, the government’s legislative priorities and the proposed 2023 National Budget.
Diokno said the government wanted to improve spending efficiency and alignment of budget priorities that are anchored on the Marcos administration’s 8-point socioeconomic agenda.
He said the government would focus on productive spending to stimulate growth.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman also said proposed budget was crafted based on and in support of the administration’s 8-point socioeconomic agenda.
Anchored on the theme, “Agenda for Prosperity: Economic Transformation Towards Inclusivity and Sustainability,” the proposed budget aims to address the immediate and pressing concerns of all Filipinos in the near- and medium-term, she said.
“The administration’s first full-year budget shall serve as a springboard for the economy’s full-speed recovery and meaningful structural reform,” Pangandaman said.
The first pillar of the proposed budget, which aims to strengthen the purchasing power of the Filipinos, covers the first three items in the 8-point agenda: food security, improved transportation and affordable and clean energy.
The Department of Agriculture’s banner programs will receive a larger share in 2023, including a doubled allocation for the National Rice Program to P30.55 billion from this year’s P15.77 billion.
The “Build Better More” program will receive P1.20 trillion, equivalent to 5.0 percent of GDP, for road, rail, transport and flood control infrastructures.
Bulk of the infrastructure budget will go to the Department of Public Works and Highways with P272.87 billion which will be used to finance an efficient transport and logistics system for goods and services, and to the Department of Transportation with P167.12 billion for the establishment of an efficient and reliable mass public transportation system.