THE Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) will brief the Committee on Appropriations today, Aug. 26, on the macroeconomic assumptions underpinning the 2023 Budget, Speaker Martin G. Romualdez said in a statement.
The P5.268-trillion budget is 4.9% higher than this year’s budget, and equivalent to 22.2% of gross domestic product. The House is considering the government’s spending plan, known as the National Expenditure Program, and hopes to wrap up discussions on a budget bill by the end of September, for passage as the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
The briefing will be given by Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Felipe M. Medalla. The appropriations committee is chaired by AKO-BICOL Party-list Representative Elizaldy S. Co.
Marikina Rep. Stella Luz A. Quimbo said the committee aims to finish hearings by Sept. 16.
“It is our goal to enact the 2023 GAA as scheduled to fund our economic recovery programs and projects, as well as to be vigilant in monitoring their implementation,” Ms. Quimbo, the committee’s senior vice-chair, said in a news conference on Tuesday.
Maria L. Atienza, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, said in a text on Sunday that “the budget should also be scrutinized by the public, especially if there are special funds allocated for favored districts led by loyalists and supporters of the current administration but (which are) unnecessary and (of low) priority,” she said. — Matthew Carl L. Montecillo