Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) releases amounted to PhP1.136 trillion from January to May 2019. Of the total NCA releases, PhP1.050 trillion was utilized, yielding an NCA utilization rate of 92%. This is an improvement from the NCA utilization rate in the same period last year at 83%, although total NCA releases was lower this year by PhP177.4 billion with the delayed passage of the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

NCAs refer to the disbursement authority issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to cover the cash requirements of the operations, programs, and projects of government agencies. A higher NCA utilization rate demonstrates the capacity of line agencies to timely disburse their allocated funds and implement their programs and projects.

Line departments had an average NCA utilization rate of 90% as they were able to use PhP784.5 billion of the PhP868.9 billion NCA releases for them. On the other hand, NCA releases to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) for Government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and Local Government Units (LGUs) amounting to PhP19.9 billion and PhP246.1 billion, respectively, were virtually fully utilized since these were downloaded to the GOCCs and LGUs by directly crediting their accounts.

Unused NCAs may still be utilized in June 2019 as the cash authority issued by the DBM is valid until the end of the quarter. In total, unused NCAs amounted to PhP85.3 billion as of end-May 2019, which is equivalent to just 8% of total NCA releases.

The breakdown of NCA releases, utilized NCAs, and unused NCAs can be found in the DBM website: https://www.dbm.gov.ph/index.php/programs-projects/status-of-nca-utilization/245-dbm-releases/2019-status-of-nca-utilization/1455-2019-status-of-nca-utilization-as-of-may-31-2019.

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