Gov't infra spending plunges 45%

Government infrastructure spending plunged in the first four months of the year, failing to recover from a high-profile flood-control corruption scandal that triggered aggressive regulatory oversight and disrupted the processing of state funds.

- By DERCO ROSAL

According to the latest national government disbursement report from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), capital outlays shrank by 45.6 percent to P189.3 billion at end-April from P347.6 billion recorded in the same period last year.

The contraction was equivalent to a P158.4 billion drop in direct state investments for public works.

The DBM explicitly tied the slump to the residual effects of the previous year's public works controversy, noting that infrastructure spending has yet to recover from the impact of the flood-control issues. Recall that the flood control fiasco compelled the government to heighten its oversight over public spending, especially on the Department of Public Works and Highways, which have inadvertently bottlenecked economic productivity.