Early start for 2012 budget

Schedule, assumptions expected to be out by January

PREPARATIONS for the 2012 national budget will start next month as the Aquino administration wants to avoid operating under reenacted budgets like the previous administration.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad yesterday told BusinessWorld a budget call had been released but Undersecretary Laura B. Pascua later clarified that the documents would be issued shortly.

"We already issued the budget call," Mr. Abad said in a telephone interview.

He did not provide details but said: "We want to start earlier so that we can have broad consultations with concerned groups, and so that we can finish earlier than [usual]."

Sought for details, Ms. Pascua said, via text message, that the notices to all agencies and bureaus of government, plus state universities and schools, would be sent out "soon, in late November or early December."

Two budget calls would be issued, the first one setting a schedule for preparation activities.

Asked about the macroeconomic and fiscal policy framework/thrusts for 2012, Ms. Pascua replied: "that will be in [the] second budget call in January."

The interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee, the body that approves macroeconomic targets, has set a preliminary growth goal of between 5.2%-6.5% for 2012.

The budget call -- formally known as "National Budget Memorandum" and essentially a document that provides the guidelines and procedures for the preparation of agencies’ budget proposals -- is normally issued in the second quarter.

The budget call for fiscal year 2011, for instance, was issued in May and set a June 4 deadline for proposals.

President Benigno S. C. Aquino III submitted his 2011 budget proposal of P1.645 trillion to Congress last August 24. The House of Representatives approved it on third reading on Nov. 8 and the Senate is currently holding floor debates. The target is to come up with a budget bill approved by a bicameral committee by Dec. 13.

A new budget for the new year should be a good start for the Aquino administration, given that the Arroyo administration had to be operate under six reenacted budgets during the nine years it occupied Malacañang.

Reenacted budgets mean new projects will not get any funding.

Mr. Abad explained that earlier budget preparations would allow the government to consult with nongovernment groups as well as give more time to Congress to scrutinize the executive’s proposed outlay.

Government agencies will be required to hold consultations with various groups "before they submit" their respective outlays to his department, the budget chief added.

The Constitution does not set a deadline for budget deliberations in Congress. It states that should Congress fail to pass the budget for the next fiscal year, outlays for the current year "shall be deemed reenacted and shall remain in force" until a new law is passed.

Mr. Abad said he was hopeful next year’s P1.645-trillion budget would be in force by January.