THE National government’s budget utilization rate in November fell to 82.8% from 86% a year earlier, the Department of Budget and Management said.

In the 11 months to November, utilization was 90.7%, from 91.1% a year earlier.

The utilization rates were based on government agencies’ Notices of Cash Allocation (NCAs), an authority issued quarterly by the Budget department to central, regional and provincial offices and operating units to cover their cash requirements.

The Office of the Vice President had the lowest budget usage rate in November of 25.2%, not having used P125.42 million of the P167.7 million worth of funds authorized.

This was followed by the Presidential Communications Operations Office at 34.7%, leaving P327.04 million unused.

The Department of Finance had a 41.4% NCA utilization ratio, with about P2 billion unspent from the P3.41 billion in authorized funding.

Agencies have until the end of each quarter to fully utilize their funding.

The Department of Energy exceeded its allocation by P73.8 million for a 130.2% utilization rate, which it achieved by spending unused NCAs from previous periods.

The Department of Labor and Employment and the Commission on Elections spent P71.74 million, and P22.24 million over their allocations, respectively for utilization rates of 106.1% and 105.7% .

The government has P183 billion left to be released as of end-November from the P3.35 trillion 2017 budget. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

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