Gov’t agencies’ 2024 cash utilization rate 99%

THE cash utilization rate posted by government agencies was 99% at the end of 2024, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

The DBM reported that the National Government, local governments and government-owned firms used P4.83 trillion or 99% of the notices of cash allocation (NCAs) issued to them. The year-earlier rate had been 98%.

An NCA is a cash authority issued by the DBM to central, regional and provincial offices and operating units through government banks to cover the cash requirements of the agencies.

The remaining unused NCAs totaled P72.06 billion at the end of the year.

Line departments used 98% of their allotments, equivalent to P3.65 trillion of the P3.72 trillion NCAs issued.

In 2024, the departments of Interior and Local Government, Labor and Employment, Public Works and Highways, Social Welfare and Development and the Judiciary used 100% of their NCAs.

The Commission on Elections, Office of the Ombudsman and Commission on Human Rights also fully utilized their funds.

The departments of Human Settlements and Urban Development and Migrant Workers posted the lowest utilization rates of 67% and 82% respectively.

Budgetary support to government-owned companies was 99% used, while the corresponding rate for local government units was 100%.

In 2024, government spending grew 7.2%, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in December signed the P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025, with education being allocated P1.055 trillion, followed by public works with P1.007 trillion. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante