The national government's expenditures for infrastructure development increased to P1.142 trillion from January to September, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.
Latest DBM data showed that this is 11.9 percent more compare to the P1.021 trillion logged in the same period last year.
The department added that the figure is also higher than the P595 billion nine-month infrastructure spending in 2020; P807 billion in 2021; and P911.6 billion in 2022.
Likewise, the figure is 75.6 percent of the total P1.501 trillion allocation for infrastructure this year, according to the DBM.
The Marcos administration’s Build, Better, More program aims to expand the country’s infrastructure by developing road, rail, mass transport, and flood control infrastructure projects to allow for growth in remote municipalities.
Moving forward, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary-General Arsenio Balisacan said the government will continue to push for the sustained implementation of infrastructure drive, as that will help make the country improve its competitiveness and attract more investments.
"In this regard, it is imperative that we intensify our efforts to improve the ease of doing business and elevate our competitiveness to further strengthen investor interest and confidence," he said.
Balisacan said the government will also continue to engage in new free trade agreements (FTAs) to strengthen exports.
"The Philippines has resumed its FTA negotiations with the United Arab Emirates and the European Union to expand market access for our non-traditional products, such as halal-related commodities, and services trade, like finance, IT-BPM (information technology and business process management), and engineering, among others," he said.
Balisacan also cited the need to upgrade the country's infrastructure and services and improve the transport networks across tourist areas to lower the cost of traveling.
"To sustain services sector growth, we must keep up with technological developments, like artificial intelligence (AI). While we expect significant job generation, there may still be job displacements," he added.
