Early submission of the proposed national budget by government has become imperative to avert serious and huge losses to the economy caused by delayed approval, computed at P463.6 billion in the first six months of 2019 alone.
House Deputy Speaker and 1Pacman partylist Rep. Michael Romero aired this recommendation as he lamented the economic slowdown that was caused by the nearly six-month delay in the approval of the budget bill during the current year.
“Opportunity loss as a result of the long delay in the budget approval was $17.834 billion in 2019. We should do everything legal to avoid a repeat of this regrettable situation in the future,” Romero said during the Partytlist Forum yesterday.
Monthly loss during the first six months of 2019 was P77.2 billion, said Romero, president of the Partylist Coalition Foundation Inc.
The House official disclosed that the projected Gross Domestic Product growth of 6.4 percent registered a four-year low of 5.5 percent for the first quarter.
Romero, one of the country’s top economists, urged the Department of Budget and Management to make it a habit to submit the proposed National Expenditure Program on July of each year to give Congress enough time to scrutinize the proposal and eventually approve it.
He noted that the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for next year was submitted to the House of Representatives only last Aug. 18, instead of the usual turnover that coincides with the State-of-the-Nation Address or the fourth Monday of July.
“This way Congress will have at least one month addition to the budget study. The timetable is very important matter that our ecomomic managers should consider,” said the president of the second biggest political bloc in the House.
Romero added: “I think both Houses of Congress should be given at least six months to finish the budget.”
The senior administration solon aired the optimism that the 2020 budget measure will be disposed of by Congress on time, saying that this will help government economists pursue a successful plan to catch up with the huge 2019 losses. (Ben Rosario)
