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Philippine disbursements surge to 11.3 billion USD in Q1

Xinhua, May 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Philippines posted an increase of 21.5 billion pesos to 504 billion pesos (11.3 billion U.S. dollars) on its spending in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2014, a senior government official said Wednesday.

"Our spending levels from January to March show a very clear trend towards faster government spending," said Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

Disbursements in March, which reached to 188.5 billion pesos, showed a year-on-year increase of 11.2 percent, he said, noting that this was a considerable improvement from the growth in February disbursements of 9.6 percent and January's 5.4-percent decrease.

"On first glance, spending in the first quarter may seem unremarkable, but the fact that it accelerated sharply by March gives us good reason to be optimistic," he said.

The upsurge in disbursements by the end of the first quarter was driven by quicker spending in Maintenance and Other Operating Expenditures and Capital Outlay in a number of major agencies, Abad said.

He expects the second quarter spending to continue to rise. Endi