Subsidies provided by the national government to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) declined in January to August.
Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that subsidies to state-run firms plunged by 19.27 percent to P70.251 billion as of end-August from P87.025 billion in the same period a year ago.
The budgetary support was extended to 39 GOCCs to fund their operations not supported by corporate revenues or to finance their specific programs or projects.
During the eight-month period, major non-financial government corporations received 54.71 percent of the total, or P38.434 billion, while other government corporations obtained 44.56 percent, or P31.308 billion.
The remaining 0.72 percent, or P509 million, went to government financial institutions.
Based on the data, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) obtained the highest amount of subsidies during the eight-month period at P24.528 billion.
NIA was followed by the National Food Authority (NFA) with P8.682 billion in subsidies and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (Psalm) with P8 billion.
Other top subsidy recipients were the Philippine Reclamation Authority (P4.433 billion), Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) (P4.282 billion) and the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (P1.967 billion).
For the month of August alone, government subsidies to GOCCs amounted to P8.018 billion, also down by 11.89 percent from P9.1 billion in the same month last year.
Cornering the highest amount of government subsidies handed out during the month was still NIA, which got P3.427 billion.
This was followed by the PCIC with P2.032 billion, NFA (P750 million), International Broadcasting Corporation (P337 million) and National Electrification Administration (P200 million).
Next year, subsidies for GOCCs are pegged at P149.654 billion. This is higher by 17.4 percent from this year’s allotment of P127.428 billion.
The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will finally receive subsidies next year after being stripped off of financial support this year.
To recall, the bicameral conference committee directed PhilHealth to use its surplus funds instead of allotting subsidies for the agency this year.
PHilHealth’s proposed subsidy for next year stands at P53.262 billion, which will fund the annual insurance premiums of indigent beneficiaries.