Recto: PEFA report a guide to responsible, impactful public spending

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto last week emphasized the importance of the 2024 Philippine Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Assessment Report in shaping responsible and effective government spending.

Speaking during the report’s release, Recto said its findings offer a valuable roadmap for policymakers to ensure the prudent allocation and utilization of public funds, ultimately sustaining the delivery of quality services and development programs.

“I see these reports as part of the compelling literature that will remind those with the power to ordain public spending of their cardinal duty to spend wisely and never recklessly,” said Recto, who chairs the Public Financial Management Committee.

The 2024 PEFA Assessment highlights the government’s strong fiscal standing, citing robust revenue and spending performance, efficient debt and cash management, transparent intergovernmental transfers, improved procurement practices, and comprehensive monitoring of performance.

Recto noted the report should be used “not just as tabletop reading but to improve conditions on the ground, where they matter most.”

The Department of Finance (DOF) noted that the assessment is the country’s first multi-framework, multi-stakeholder public financial management (PFM) review, led by the Asian Development Bank. The Philippines also became the first ASEAN nation to undertake a full-scale PFM Disaster Response and Recovery Assessment.

With the 2025 national budget preparations underway, Recto said the findings arrive at a critical time, offering key insights that should help ensure the budget is resilient to economic shocks, responsive to natural disasters, and aligned with long-term development goals.

He also stressed the enduring principles of sound fiscal policy: “That we only spend what we can sustainably raise. That revenues are the upstream of appropriations and not the other way around. That current expenditures should not bequeath a huge pasa load of debt to the generations that will come after us. Because if we flip the order, the future pays the price.”