The proposed national budget for 2021 is not likely to be submitted by President Rodrigo Duterte tomorrow when he delivers his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) even as Congress resumes session, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) clarified.
Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado explained that DBM is still working on the proposals. He said the executive branch is not yet ready to submit the proposed 2021 budget.
“Not yet. We’re still in the process of finalizing it as the DBCC (Development Budget Coordination Committee) still has to approve the final budget ceiling,” Avisado said.
Avisado said that they are targeting to finalize and submit the budget proposal for 2021 “on or before August 27.”
Earlier, DBM assistant secretary Rolando Toledo said the budget ceiling for 2021 has been raised to P4.506 trillion from the previous proposal of P4.335 trillion to provide the government more funds to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed budget ceiling is 9.9 percent higher than this year’s budget of P4.1 trillion.
