Philippines plans to build up infrastructure spending in 2020 budget

MANILA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The Philippine government on
Tuesday put to Congress a proposed 2020 budget that lifts
spending 12% from a year earlier and makes a push to deliver on
plans to slash poverty, boost education and transform the
country's decrepit infrastructure.
Smooth passage is crucial for President Rodrigo Duterte, who
has three years of his term remaining, to make progress on his
key policy promises, helped by momentum from mid-term elections
in May that his allies won overwhelmingly.
Total proposed spending is 4.1 trillion pesos ($78.2
billion), compared with 3.662 trillion pesos in the budget
approved for this year.
A statement on budget plans provided to media on Tuesday
only covered spending plans, there was no mention of targets for
total revenue and tax collection in 2020. In July, the
government said its fiscal deficit target for 2019-2022 was for
an average of 3.2% of gross domestic product.
In line with Duterte's "Build, Build, Build" initiative that
seeks to modernise highways and urban rail projects as well as
upgrade airports and seaports, the largest chunk of spending -
972.5 billion pesos, or 24% - is for infrastructure development.
This is followed by 536.7 billion pesos for human capital
development including education and health and 483.2 billion
pesos for security, which covers military and police.
It also follows his plans to improve schools and healthcare
and to boost salaries and better equip police and the armed
forces. Overall, the proposed defence budget is nearly 40% more
than what was approved for 2019.
Horse-trading by the previous Congress caused a costly delay
of at least four months in the passage of this year's budget.
That was a factor in annual economic growth in April-June
falling to 5.5%, the weakest pace in 17 quarters. The proposed budget more than doubles spending in 2020 for
the transport department while a 69% increase from a year
earlier is sought for the health department.

($1 = 52.41 Philippine pesos)