PRESIDENT Marcos on Thursday assured that government spending during the last quarter of the year will be aligned with his administration’s ‘original plan’ to keep the country on track with its economic growth target this year.
‘Public spending now will be increased and-to make sure that by the end of the year, the levels of public spending are according to our original plan,’ Marcos said in a news conference in Malacañang on Thursday.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) earlier said it is banking on the spending of the P1.31-trillion programmed funds to boost the country’s gross domestic product during the last quarter of 2025.
Of the said fund, P9.52 billion will be used for conditional cash transfers.
The President issued the statement when asked how the government can restore investor confidence, which were apparently affected by the ongoing government probe on the anomalous flood control projects.
Amid the said investigations the value of peso reached an all-time low of P59.17 against the US dollar, while the gross domestic product (GDP) from July to September slowed down to 4 percent.
The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) the ongoing investigation on anomalous flood control projects, which started last August, has resulted in a slowdown in the progress in public works, which underwent vetting from Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
In a Viber message, DPWH Secretary Vivencio ‘Vince’ B. Dizon told BusinessMirror many of the said projects will resume before the end of the year.
‘We will ramp up [the construction], but with safeguards,’ he said.
Marcos, however, attributed the downturn in economic activity not just to the public works investigations.
He noted that the series of typhoons, which hit the country during the third quarter of the year has dampened local economic growth.
This was worsened, he said by the ‘prevailing global situation,’ caused by the US-imposed reciprocal tariffs and trade war with China.
‘That’s why the growth rates of all groups all around the world are falling,’ Marcos said.
‘We are not the only ones suffering the shocks that come from the new trade structure that has been imposed on the rest of the world,’ he added.