In the first month of 2019, Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) releases reached PhP 211.9 billion, of which PhP 127.0 billion were utilized. This translates to an NCA utilization rate of 60%.

NCAs refer to cash authority issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to line agencies to cover the cash requirements of their programs and projects. NCAs are utilized when agencies issue checks or Advice to Debit Account (ADA) against their cash authority. NCA utilization also includes outstanding checks, or checks issued by the agency but not yet encashed at the bank by the creditor/s.

          The NCA utilization rate increased from 33% in January 2018 to 60% in January 2019. However, NCA releases in January 2019 were significantly lower than in January 2018, which was at PhP 405.4 billion. This is partly because the government was operating under a reenacted budget in January 2019.

          “We had to calibrate NCA releases considering the 2019 budget had yet to be passed in January 2019. Nevertheless, the higher NCA utilization ratio means agencies are quicker on their feet in implementing programs and projects in the first month of the year. We expect the NCA utilization rate to increase in the coming months considering NCAs lapse at the end of every quarter,” said Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno.

          In January 2019, PhP 172.2 billion of NCA releases were for line departments while PhP 39.7 billion were sourced from Special Purpose Funds (SPFs). In terms of NCA utilization, cash disbursements amounted to PhP 111.3 billion while PhP 15.6 billion were outstanding checks.

          “As we anticipate the passage into law of the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA), the DBM is devising a catch-up plan in the release and utilization of funds. In coordination with implementing agencies, we will cover all bases from allotment releases, NCA releases, to NCA utilization and disbursement plans,” the Budget Chief concluded.

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Annex A