Subsidies for state-run corporations fall in Sept.

SUBSIDIES released to state-run companies went down in September as fewer government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) received additional funding support, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed. Funds that went to GOCCs fell to P729 million for the month, which is barely a tenth of the P8.8 billion released in August. Fourteen of 41 firms received subsidies in September, the biggest of which was given to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) at P271 million, followed by the Social Housing Finance Corp. at P188 million. Other GOCCs that received subsidies for the month were the Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corp. (P50 million), Philippine Children’s Medical Center (P43 million), the Cultural Center of the Philippines (P34 million), Philippine Heart Center (P32 million), the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (P26 million), the Philippine National Railways (P25 million), the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (P20 million), the Lung Center of the Philippines (P17 million), the state media People’s Television Network, Inc. (P8 million), the Philippine Center for Economic Development (P7 million), the Southern Philippines Development Authority (P4 million), and the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (P4 million). The National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., which received P4.41 billion and P3.79 billion in subsidies in August, did not get additional government funding in September. As a result, total subsidies released from January to September reached P55.82 billion or 47% of the P118.62 billion programmed for the full year. The figure, however, is lower than the P62.21 billion released during the same period last year. Year to date, the biggest subsidy allotments were given to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. at P32.59 billion, the NHA at P4.41 billion, and to the National Food Authority at P4.25 billion. Subsidies form part of public expenditures. For the first nine months, total state disbursements totaled P1.63 trillion, up by 12% from the P1.456 trillion recorded in same period in 2014 though still below the P1.906-trillion target for the period. This is against revenue collections of P1.60 trillion so far for 2015. The government’s overall budget deficit stood at P25.55 billion as of end-September, barely a tenth of the P283.69-billion cap set for the year or about 2% of the local economy. With the latest tally, the government must collect P670.25 billion in revenues and spend P928.39 billion to meet the ceiling. --