Gov’t subsidies down 15.9% in Aug

Government subsidies to state corporations declined 15 percent from a year ago, latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.

A total of P7.402 billion in credit was extended to assist 17 government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) in August down from the previous year’s P8.802 billion where only 11 state firms got their share.

Subsidies are extended to assist GOCC operations and help them perform their mandate. In turn, these companies are supposed to remit at least 50 percent of their earnings as dividend to the government.

In August, dividends remitted by state corporations to government coffers amounted to P130 million. Comparative data and list of agencies that remitted were unavailable.

Subsidies are recorded as part of government expenditures, while dividends are revenues.

According to Treasury data, the bulk was granted to Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), amounting to P3.36 billion. It was the first subsidy received by the agency this year.

PSALM is in charge of managing and disposing of government power sector assets and debts.

It was followed by the National Development Company and National Irrigation Administration in the billion-peso list. The firms received P1.5 billion and P1.22 billion, respectively.

The Light Rail Transit Authority, which oversees one of Manila’s main railways, got P478 million, while the National Kidney and Transplant Institute secured P440 million, data showed.

Other GOCCs that got funding were Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. with P182 million, Philippine National Railways (P80 million), Lung Center of the Philippines (P34 million), Philippine Heart Center (P27 million), Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (P24 million) and think tanks Philippine Center for Economic Development (P14 million) and Philippine Institute for Development Studies (P12 million).

Capping the list were investment locator regulator Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (P8 million), Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Healthcare (P7 million), Small Business Corp. (P7 million), Southern Philippines Development Authority (P4 million) and Philippine Children’s Medical Center (P2 million).

For the first eight months, subsidies amounted to P79.26 billion, 43.9 percent up from P55.09 billion last year.