DBM pushes cap on unprogrammed budget

Imposing a cap on unprogrammed budgetary funds, with a limit preferably as low as four percent of the national budget, would set a boundary for Congress to refrain from inflating allocations for national projects.

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Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Assistant Secretary Romeo Matthew T. Balanquit told reporters on the sidelines of the DBM’s 2025 Fiscal Policy Conference that unprogrammed appropriations (UAs) should be capped at around four to five percent of the national budget.

“It's better if it’s lower. Actually, the value of UAs is really intended for foreign-assisted projects,” Balanquit said last Monday, Oct. 27.

According to Balanquit, foreign-assisted projects go through a lengthy approval process—from the Cabinet-level Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) to the Economic Development Council (EDC)—before getting the President's nod.