The Marcos Jr. administration has expressed its intention to borrow P2.46 trillion next year from both local and overseas sources, according to Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman.
In a message to reporters, the budget chief said that the financing mix would be 75 percent domestic and 25 percent foreign.
The planned borrowing figure for 2024 is higher than the P2.2 trillion program for this year.
“(There’s a) slight increase because of FX (foreign exchange),” she said.
Meanwhile, the DBM said that the President and his Cabinet had already approved the National Expenditure Program for fiscal year 2024, set at P5.768 trillion. This is equivalent to 21.8 percent of the gross domestic product and is 9.5 percent higher than this year’s P5.268 trillion budget.
Pangandaman disclosed that DBM received a total of P5.9 trillion budget proposals for 2024, which were thoroughly evaluated considering several factors such as the agencies’ budget utilization rates in the past years, and the alignment of their programs, activities and projects (PAPs) with the priorities outlined in the Budget Priorities Framework.
The Budget Chief likewise reiterated that all concerned agencies should exert all efforts to support, uphold, and defend the President’s Budget, and the budget levels during congressional deliberations.
“Since this proposed National Budget is approved by the President, it already becomes the President’s Budget. Any adjustments in the proposed amounts will result in a zero-sum game where one agency’s gain will be equivalent to another agency’s loss; or one project’s gain is another project’s loss,” Pangandaman said.
