Marcos seeks record $131b budget to boost Philippine growth

MANILA • Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr asked Congress yesterday for a record 5.29 trillion pesos (S$131 billion) government budget next year to support an ambitious policy agenda aimed at boosting growth and lifting millions out of poverty.

Mr Marcos' proposed budget, which is equal to 22.2 per cent of the country's total economic output, is nearly 5 per cent higher than his predecessor's spending plan for this year.

He is aiming to expand the South-east Asian economy by as much as 8 per cent during his six-year term, to keep its place among Asia's fastest-growing nations, and halve the poverty rate, which stood at 18.1 per cent last year.

Education, infrastructure, food security, healthcare and clean energy got top priority in the 2023 budget, which was presented to Congress by a presidential representative.

Congress is expected to approve the budget by October and Mr Marcos is expected to sign it into law before year's end.

The education sector will receive the highest allocation of 852.8 billion pesos or 16 per cent of the total budget, followed by public works with 13 per cent, healthcare with 5 per cent, and social welfare with about 4 per cent, Mr Marcos said in a statement that accompanied the budget proposal.

Mr Marcos, the son and namesake of the country's strongman leader toppled in a 1986 uprising, also runs the agriculture portfolio, which will receive 184.1 billion pesos, a 40 per cent jump from its budget this year.

Mr Marcos, who won a single six-year term in the May election, commands a supermajority in Congress, boosting chances of advancing his legislative agenda, including his 2023 expenditure programme. His cousin, Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, is Speaker of the Lower House.

"Our budget for the fiscal year 2023 is proactive and resilient," said Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman when turning it over to Mr Romualdez.

The 2023 budget is designed to "withstand future risks, challenges, and shocks", she added.

Mr Romualdez said that the budget for next year will provide the "broad strokes needed to speed up" the country's economic recovery.

REUTERS, XINHUA