GOCC subsidies fall 66% in July

BUDGETARY SUPPORT to government companies declined 66% to P6.079 billion in July, with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and the National Housing Authority (NHA) receiving the top allocations, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.

Preliminary data from the BTr indicate that subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) last month fell 27% from subsidies granted in June.

The NIA remained the top subsidy recipient, having been allocated P2.756 billion, or 45% of the total. The subsidy rose 44% from a year earlier and 4.2% larger than the June subsidy.

The NHA received P1.483 billion, accounting for 23.4% of the total. The agency did not receive financial support from the government in July 2020.

Other GOCCs that received allocations in July were the National Power Corp. with P933 million, the Philippine Heart Center P147 million; the Philippine Postal Corp. P135 million, and the National Kidney Transplant Institute with P107 million.

Others receiving more than P50 million were the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (P98 million), the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (P87 million) and the Light Rail Transit Administration (P85 million).

GOCCs that received no subsidies in July were the: Bases Conversion Development Authority, the Development Academy of the Philippines, the Local Water Utilities Administration, the National Food Authority, the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp., the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the Philippine National Railways, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.

In the seven months to July, GOCC subsidies fell 35.6% from a year earlier to P94.361 billion due to base effects after the government coursed through the Social Security System a P50-billion wage subsidy program to help employers retain their workers during the lockdown last year.

PhilHealth got the biggest subsidy worth P45.456 billion during the seven months, followed by the NIA with P19.596 billion.

Subsidies are granted to GOCCs to cover operational expenses not supported by their revenue. —

Beatrice M. Laforga