The Duterte administration has lowered the amount of subsidy extended to government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) for October, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.

Financial support extended to these state-owned corporations dropped 17 percent to P5.2 billion in October from P6.3 billion in the same month last year.

Among the GOCCs that received a huge portion of the subsidy include the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), P2.4 billion; and National Housing Authority (NHA), P1.1 billion.

Total support given to NIA and NHA amounted to P3.5 billion, accounting for more than half or 67 percent, of the government’s subsidy releases during the month.

Other recipients of subsidy were the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority, Philippine Heart Center, and Philippine Postal Corp. at P319 million, P147 million, P135 million, respectively.

Moreover, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute received P107 million subsidy along with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines with P100 million.

In first 10 months of the year, state subsidies to government companies reached P151.08 billion, 8.4 percent lower compared with P165.07 billion in the same period in 2020.

Total financial aid given to GOCCs last year amounted to P229 billion billion.

The smaller subsidy to GOCCs comes as the Duterte administration’s budget shortfall widens.

Earlier, the Treasury reported that the national government incurred a P64.3 billion fiscal gap in October, an increase of 2.9 percent compared with P61.4 billion in the same month last year.

The October fiscal deficit brought the government’s 10-month tally to a P1.203 trillion budget gap, higher by 28 percent compared with P940.6 trillion in the same period last year.

But despite the uptick, the actual budget deficit the government incurred was lower than the programmed P1.42 trillion for the period and accounted for only 66.8 percent of the revised P1.8 trillion full year ceiling.


Source: Manila Bulletin (https://mb.com.ph/2021/12/05/govt-lowers-subsidy-to-goccs-in-oct/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=govt-lowers-subsidy-to-goccs-in-oct)