MANILA, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' budget for 2023 submitted to the House of Representatives on Monday reached roughly 93.835 billion U.S. dollars, 4.9 percent higher than the 2022 budget, while the defense budget alone increased by 9 percent.
The highest-ever budget focuses on the education sector, infrastructure, health, agriculture, and social welfare development to sustain the Southeast Asian country's growth momentum.
"Our budget for the fiscal year 2023 is proactive and resilient," said Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman when turning it over to House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
The 2023 budget is designed to "withstand future risks, challenges, and shocks," she added.
Romualdez said the 2023 budget will provide the "broad strokes needed to speed up" the country's economic recovery.
He described the proposed appropriations measure "as an exceptional fiscal program carefully formulated to provide a continuing booster shot to revitalize an economy still feeling the ill effects of the pandemic."
The Philippine government has vowed to achieve 6.5 percent to 8 percent gross domestic product growth annually between 2023 to 2028.
The Department of National Defense will receive roughly 4.28 billion dollars in the proposed budget, 9 percent higher than the 2022 defense budget.
Pangandaman said the defense budget was raised in anticipation of destructive typhoons and other natural calamities that will hit the Southeast Asian country.
The House Committee on Appropriations will start budget deliberations at the committee level on Aug. 26. Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos will sign the budget later once it is approved by Congress. ■