BUDGET authorities are set to release changes to government spending policy as it seeks to restore public trust following last year’s massive flood control project scandal.
“Policy revisions will be out very soon, tightening [the] government's policy ensuring that we spend our money wisely and for the benefit of our people,” Acting Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon said on Friday.
“[W]e're in the fourth quarter, so surely there will be a surge in utilization because there will be parties left and right masquerading to be planning sessions,” he added.
The Budget chief said the government must move away from measuring performance primarily through budget utilization, stressing that high spending does not necessarily translate into better public services or more effective programs.
“You may be spending less but producing more in terms of output and even outcome,” de Leon said, emphasizing the need to assess the quality of government spending.
He said the government had also begun reviewing recurring expenditures as part of efforts to improve budget discipline and make more room for productive spending.
De Leon noted that approximately 98 percent of the proposed P7.2-trillion budget for next year would go toward Tier 1 requirements, which cover recurring operating expenditures, leaving only about two percent for new capital expenditures.
The limited room for new investments prompted the Budget chief to question whether existing operating expenses should be examined more closely.
“[W]e really have to unpack even these operating expenditures,” de Leon said.
