SUBSIDIES provided to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) declined 78% year on year to P5.117 billion in April, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported.
Budgetary support to GOCCs also fell 52% compared to the March total, while they amounted to P24.391 billion in the year to date, according to the BTr.
Subsidies are granted to GOCCs to cover operational expenses not supported by their revenue.
The top beneficiaries were the National Food Authority (NFA), receiving P2.055 billion, and the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), receiving P1.303 billion. Both accounted for over half of the total for the month. The NFA received no subsidies in March, while subsidies to the NIA this month were half their previous total.
The Light Rail Transit Authority received P250 million, triple the amount it got the preceding month.
Other top recipients for the period were the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the Small Business Corp., receiving P204 million and P200 million respectively. The Philippine Children’s Medical Center also received P184 million, while the Philippine Rubber Research Institute got P193 million.
Other GOCCs that received more than P50 million were the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Lung Center of the Philippines, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, the Philippine Coconut Authority, and the Philippine Heart Center.
GOCCs that received no subsidies during the month were the National Housing Authority, the National Privacy Commission, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, the Social Housing Finance Corp., and the Sugar Regulatory Administration. The BCDA was a top beneficiary in March, when it received P2 billion.
The NHA received nearly P3 billion in March, topping the GOCC subsidy list for that month.
The year-to-date total subsidies extended to GOCCs was P24.391 billion, down 30%from a year earlier. In the four months to April, the NIA received P9.001 billion, the most of any GOCC, followed by the NFA and NHA at P3.243 billion and P3.194 billion.
Government subsidies to GOCCs totaled P184.8 billion in 2021, a nearly 20% decline from the previous year. The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. received P80.9 billion, nearly 44% of the total. — Tobias Jared Tomas
