By Roderick T. dela Cruz

The National Economic and Development Authority has warned about the possible realignment of funds from agencies that will fail to use their budget efficiently in the first half of 2009.

Economic Planning Secretary and Neda director-general Ralph Recto said government agencies, especially those involved in infrastructure development, that failed to deliver on their commitments could lose their allocation.

Asked what penalty these agencies may face, Recto said the fund allocation would be removed from them and transferred to more efficient agencies.

Recto noted that the government spent only 30 percent of its infrastructure budget in the first half of 2008.

To avoid this problem from recurring this year amid the global economic downturn, Neda recommended spending 60 to 80 percent of the productive portion of the 2009 budget in the first six months, with focus on the infrastructure sector.

Neda has been meeting with agencies involved in infrastructure development, such as the Public Works, Transportation and Agriculture Departments, to plan how to frontload spending in the first half of the year.

?The budget is the most important tool of the government. It is an economic and social tool. It is a cap on our spending and it is dependent on our ability to raise revenues,? Recto said.

Recto raised hope that the bicameral conference committee of the Senate and the House will pass the 2009 budget this month.

He said the failure of Congress to pass the appropriations act in December should not prevent government agencies from planning their expenditures early.

Neda said the frontloading of expenditures in the first half was part of the government?s P300-billion economic resiliency plan designed to insulate the economy from the impact of the global financial crisis.

The planned frontloading and spending for the first half this year is expected to boost private sector confidence in the economy, said Recto.

He said the government was accelerating spending for fast, off-the-shelf infrastructure, which has simple engineering requirements and no right-of-way problems.

He also encouraged government financial institutions, government-owned and -controlled corporations, local government units and the private sector to participate in these infrastructure projects.