LOWER infrastructure spending in the third quarter may have weighed on the country’s economic performance, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said, as the government braces for the release of the latest gross domestic product (GDP) data this week.
Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman acknowledged that the slowdown in disbursements-particularly from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-could have trimmed growth during the July-to-September period.
‘Well, you know, generally our [infrastructure] spending for the third quarter decreased because we stopped; DPWH Secretary Vince [B. Dizon] temporarily stopped the biddings. So, maybe a little,’ Pangandaman told reporters in an ambush interview at the Manila City Hall.
A video posted on the DPWH on September 3 showed Dizon announcing the temporary suspension of all bidding for the department’s locally-funded infrastructure projects while a thorough review is conducted over the next two weeks as part of the ‘intensified campaign against corruption’ in the agency. (See https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1150830926967047)
Latest DBM data showed that infrastructure and other capital outlays dropped to P84.9 billion in August from P108.6 billion a year earlier.
The decline, according to the agency, reflected the ongoing validation of the status of implementation, quality and completion across DPWH undertakings nationwide.
Pangandaman said the government will assess how to further ‘pump-prime’ the economy should growth fall short of the full-year target of Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) of 5.5 to 6.5 percent.
‘Let’s see. Let’s wait for the numbers. We’ll check how we can pump-prime to be able to get the target of 5.5 assuming we don’t change’ said Pangandaman, the DBCC chairman.
Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan earlier shared the same view, saying that infrastructure controversies and slower public spending likely weighed on the third-quarter growth. (See: Andrea E. San Juan, November 4, 2025, ‘Weak industry, infra mess, jitters hurt GDP,’ BusinessMirror)
‘It was a challenging quarter,’ Balisacan said in a separate interview. ‘I would have expected [that], given all these scandals in the infrastructure, that you would expect [to weigh on] government spending particularly on construction, fixed capital formation.’
He added that industry and services may have also slowed, citing external headwinds, domestic disruptions, and recent typhoons that hampered activity.
State think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Senior Research Fellow John Paolo R. Rivera earlier warned that the decline in infrastructure spending poses a ‘significant risk’ to both the country’s fiscal consolidation and growth trajectory.
‘Infrastructure outlays have been a key driver of aggregate demand and productivity improvements, so a sharp slowdown signals both an immediate demand shortfall and longer-term capacity constraints,’ Rivera told the BusinessMirror. (See: Reine Juvierre S. Alberto, October 22, 2025, ‘Government infrastructure spending down by 21.8% in August,’ BusinessMirror)
‘The national government itself has flagged this weakness as a factor that may cause it to miss the full-year growth target,’ he added.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the economy expanded by 5.4 percent in the first quarter and 5.5 percent in the second quarter.
The PSA is set to release the country’s third-quarter GDP figures on November 7.