NATIONAL government spending has started to pick up in April, as the utilization of Notice of Cash Allocations (NCA) has improved to 88.9 percent as of April from 82.0 percent as of March, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Government disbursements in April amounted to P112.1 billion, or 8 percent lower than the P121.9 billion spent in April 2010 and 14 percent lower than the program of P130.1 billion. Disbursements in the first four months of the year amounted to P461.4 billion, lower by P60.5 billion or 11.6 percent compared to P521.9 billion year-on-year.

The lower disbursements recorded was on account of lower interest payments by P22.4 billion due to better interest and exchange rates this year; lower capital outlay due to lower account payables; and lower maintenance spending as there were non-recurring expenditures last year.

Nonetheless, Budget and Management Secretary Florencio B. Abad pressed departments and agencies, especially those with infrastructure projects, to fulfil their catch-up plans.

“Agencies have a lot of catching up to do. I wish to remind them of President Aquino’s directive to accelerate program and project implementation,” he said.

He also said that the President has called for a Mid-Year Budget Execution Assessment in July to ensure that budget execution and project implementation proceed according to schedule.

“Nonetheless, we now see signs of improvement. Based on the catch-up plans of the agencies, as well as the allotments and cash allocations that we released recently, we expect spending to further pick up in the next few months,” he said, noting that DBM has already released P1.09 trillion in allotments, or 66.3 percent of this year’s P1.645-trillion budget.

Abad said that the Department of Public Works and Highways has already conducted a review of their cost assumptions; and they should have already bidded-out and awarded over 300 projects, which cost P50 million or more each, by June 2011.

On infrastructure spending, the year-on-year decrease—worth P39.2 billion in January to April—can be attributed to non-recurring accounts payables last year. Project implementation delay can also be attributed to the influx of requests from district and regional offices for realignments of more than 40 percent of the line-item projects already released.

Meanwhile, he said the Social Welfare department’s conditional cash transfer program is proceeding faster than programmed, with 1.47 million household-beneficiaries—or 63 percent of the target of 2.34-million this year—already starting to receive their cash grants.

In January to April, year-on-year under-spending on maintenance and other operating expenditures amounted to P15.9 billion. Non-recurring items last year include election-related activities and assistance to farmers and fisherfolk affected by the dry spell.

Abad also said DBM will no longer allow agencies to propose huge lump-sum for 2012; instead, they should flesh-out their budgets into specific programs and projects. He said it usually takes agencies up to mid-year to submit special budget requests for the release of such funds.

So far this year, a number of lump-sum funds for infrastructure have yet to be released as of April 30: 1) Department of Agriculture – Farm-to-Market Road projects (P2.5 billion); 2) Military and Police Modernization Programs (P7 billion); 3) Department of Education – Basic Educational Facilities Fund of (P11.3 billion); 4) Department of Health – Health Facilities Enhancement Program (P7.1 billion); 5) DPWH Flood Control and Drainage Projects (P1.6 billion); and 6) Infrastructure Support Fund for Public-Private Partnerships (P12.5 billion).