NEGROS Occidental Provincial Budget Officer Jose Percival Salado Jr. said Tuesday the 2018 annual budget of the province would be nine percent higher than this year’s allocation.

There is no reduction of the budget. The Capitol is not cost-cutting, he said.

Salado, however, said the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) budget will be reduced by about 23 percent because the provincial government will implement the third tranche of the Salary Standardization Law in January 2018.

The 2017 budget amounts to P3.2 billion.

Next year, the province's Internal Revenue Allotment share will increase by 7.37 percent.

Salado said they are now in the final stage of budget preparation.

The proposal will then be presented to Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. for discussion.

The governor will endorse the proposed budget to the Provincial Board for approval.

Salado said the P160-million budget for the five percent calamity fund and another P160 million for gender advocacy are already in place since these are mandatory.

The actual figure of the 2018 budget will already be determined next week, he added.