The national government surpassed its infrastructure and other capital spending target last year, the Budget department said on Wednesday, with resources used for priority public works, defense, local governments and education projects. Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said in a briefing that the administration spent P568.8 billion for infrastructure and other capital spending in 2017, 3.5 percent more than the P549.4-percent goal and also higher than 2016’s P493 billion. “The upward trend in capital outlays is proof of the roll-out of the Duterte administration’s ambitious infrastructure program,” Diokno said. Still, Victorino noted that there was still some way to go to reaching the medium-term goal of raising infrastructure spending to 7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). For this year, P2.97 trillion or 78.8 percent of the P3.78-trillion national budget was already released in January, Diokno said.

Source: Manila Times February 28, 2018 16:18 UTC