The Department of Finance will begin rightsizing its bureaucracy next year “to streamline its organization and processes to maximize efficiency and use of public funds.”
This is aligned with the priority measures listed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his first State of the Nation Address in July where he underscored the need to “rightsize” the government bureaucracy.
The national government rightsizing program, which he described as a “reform mechanism that seeks to enhance the government’s institutional capacity to perform its mandate and provide better services while ensuring optimal and efficient use of resources,” was the first item cited by the President in his legislative wish list.
The DOF, in its year-end report, said it also intends to push key measures, including carrying out Package 3 and 4 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, an excise tax on single-use plastics, a value added tax on digital service providers, measures to ease the paying of taxes and establishing a mining fiscal regime.
It will also target private sector fund mobilization through public-private partnership (PPP) projects and will launch pioneering projects with Project Management Office (PMO)-led assets such as Basay Mining Rights, Tala Estate Property, and Food Terminal Inc. property.
Tax administration reforms will be implemented to enhance tax efforts, maximize the government’s revenue potential, simplify taxpayer compliance and automate the processes of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.
The national government is also expected to secure next year nearly $40 billion in assistance and loans from development partners and bilateral lenders in 2023, even as the running debt stock rose to a record high as of end-October.
The Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) said the government is set to secure $19.1-billion worth of official development assistance (ODA) in 2023, following the $85.5 million worth of grants and technical assistance implemented this year.
The administration also eyes $9.2-billion worth of loans from multilateral development partners, and $9.8 billion in loans from bilateral lenders in the coming year.
The latest data available from the Bureau of the Treasury shows that the outstanding debt stock stood at P13.64 trillion as of end-October, up by 0.92 percent or P123.92 billion from the end-September level of P13.517 trillion.
Meanwhile, revenue collections from the BIR and the BOC have reached P3.2 trillion, surpassing the initial full year target set by the 2022 Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), the DOF said.
The DOF said it has also facilitated the implementation of grants and technical assistance worth $85.5 million.
Other accomplishments for the year include the resolution on tax incentives for business activities outside zone limits, a commitment to Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (EITI) and the revision of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.
