COMES now Ernesto Pernia, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), sounding alarm bells over the resulting slower growth caused by the Senate-delayed transmittal of the General Appropriations Bill or proposed 2019 national budget to the President for approval.
NEDA DG Pernia (Photo by Manila Bulletin)
According to Pernia further delay will cause dross domestic product (GDP) growth to slow down “as low as 4.2 to 4.9 percent.” This is a far cry from the targets set by government economic managers which see the need for a six to seven percent growth for a positive and sustained overall economic and social impact.
The 2019 budget is placed at Php3.76 trillion, earmarked to fund government’s operations and, more importantly, its Build Build Build programs designed to alleviate the transport woes of the public and goods and services. It will also fund the activities to ensure competitiveness of local farmers amid the Rice Tariffication law allowing the open importation of rice which is supposed to ease the demand stress of low supply.
Senate’s Sotto and Lacson (Photo by Inquirer)
Yet the Senate, in its wisdom (and with Senator Ping Lacson leading the charge aided by the body’s leadership Tito Sotto, the senate president) has chosen to stall the creation of the General appropriations Act, first by hemming and hawing that the House of Representatives was disproportionately allocating funds based on political patronage and pork-barrel politics, then now splitting hairs on what they alleged an illegal act by detailed defining of certain lump-sum allocations after the legislatures Bicameral Conference Committee (Bicam) had approved the Bill.
The so-called questionable act accounts for two 0ercent of the total budget, thus the Senate has held 98 percent of the total budget.
What worries the NEDA Director-General is the fact that the president has refused to sign the GAB into law unless the Senate signs the transmittal to his office because, indeed, that would be illegal. The net effect seen by Pernia is that the 2019 budget will pass only in August, where project implementation delays will have a negative impact. This is due largely to the coming elections in may where half the Senate will be gone and new ones voted in, plus the whole HOR. Only then, after the intramurals of a new Congress will they be able to act on the 2019 budget.
The ill-effects of the delay are already being felt: the last tranche of the pay for government workers is being held, and it may need the highly unusual and extraordinary act of the president to scrounge and release funds through executive order.
JPFenix Blog 