Govt fund utilization rises to 99% in March

GOVERNMENT budget utilization rose to 99 percent in March, data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed.

According to the 2025 report on utilization of notices cash allocation (NCA), the national government, along with local governments and state-owned enterprises, utilized P1.12 trillion out of the P1.13 trillion total NCA releases as of the end of March 2025.

This leaves the government with P8.57 billion in unutilized funds.

The utilization rate is higher than the 78 percent and 83 percent recorded in January and February 2025, respectively.

NCAs are quarterly authorizations that the DBM issues to government entities so they can access funds from the Bureau of the Treasury to meet their expenditure needs.

By the end of March 2025, departments used almost P797.38 billion out of their P804.60 billion NCA allotments, translating to a 99-percent rate for NCA utilization. This resulted in almost P7.23 in unused funds.

Several agencies achieved a 100-percent utilization rate: Office of the Vice President, Department of Education, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Health, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Migrant Workers, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Tourism, National Economic and Development Authority, Civil Service Commission, Commission on Audit, Commission on Elections, Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Human Rights, the judiciary branch, and state universities and colleges.

Meanwhile, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development logged the lowest utilization rate at 78 percent.