Government corporations remitted P5.41 billion in dividends to the national government in the first 10 months of the year, down from the P8.87 billion in the same period last year, the Department of Finance said.

The nearly 40-percent drop was due to the corporations’ firms’ increased spending on social services, infrastructure, lending and other activities that could help pump-prime the economy in line with a directive from the department, Finance Undersecretary Jeremias Paul Jr. told reporters.

“There has to be a balance between the collection of dividends and the need for them to increase spending to help boost the economy,” Paul said.

He added that the drop in dividends was also a consequence of the department’s efforts last year to collect past obligations of government-owned or –controlled corporations, which jacked up the 2007 figure. “Because we collected so much from them last year, naturally we won’t have much to collect this year,” he said.

The Philippine Ports Authority remitted the biggest dividend in the first 10 months of the year at P1.18 billion, Paul said.

Other top contributors of dividends were Development Bank of the Philippines (P1 billion), Philippine National Oil Co. (P790 million), Manila International Airport Authority (P680 million) and Land Bank of the Philippines (P440 million).

The finance department also collected P13.17 billion from the corporations, representing guarantee fees, loan interest and other obligations.

Government financial institutions were earlier asked to earmark P10 billion each for lending to private-sector companies that would engage in infrastructure projects. With editing by INQUIRER.net