Aquino approves P1.816T budget proposal for 2012

MANILA, Philippines—President Aquino approved Wednesday night his administration’s proposed P1.816 trillion national budget for 2012.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said social services—basic education, public health and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program—will get the lion’s share, or 31 percent, of the proposed budget at P573.5 billion.

Next year’s proposed allocation for social services reflects an increase of 10 percent from the current budget of P521.4 billion.

Abad said the economic services sector will get the second-biggest allocation of 24.3 percent, or P442.1 billion. In particular, he said, infrastructure and other capital outlays, especially those in support of agriculture, tourism, and industrial development, have been given greater emphasis with an increase of 27.2 percent to P243 billion in 2012.

A fiscal deficit of P286 billion, or 2.6 percent of the gross domestic product, is targeted in 2012, Abad said. This is lower than this year’s target of P300 billion, or three percent of GDP.

Spending for national defense will increase by just around two percent, from P104.7 billion in 2011 to P106.9 billion next year.