Subsidies to state firms up 10% in Jan.-May

The government extended P3.52 billion in subsidies to state-owned and -controlled corporations in May, the bulk of which went to entities engaged in projects related to food, electricity, crops, housing, and culture and the arts.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that the amount was about 36 percent lower than the P5.49 billion given out in the same month of 2011.

This brought the cumulative subsidies to state firms for the first five months of this year to P12.67 billion, or 10 percent more than the P11.4 billion in the same period last year.

The increase in January-May subsidies was observed as the government’s total spending went up by 13.1 percent for the five-month period.

Expenditure in May went up by 16.7 percent, contributing to what Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad described as the highest monthly disbursement level and fastest year-on-year growth so far this year.

Abad said his department continued to closely monitor the financial and physical performance of agencies to troubleshoot implementation bottlenecks and address capacity constraints.

He also expressed confidence that disbursements in the second quarter would help sustain the gains of the first quarter, when public spending was a key driver of the 6.4-percent growth in gross domestic product.

Last week, the BTr reported that the state’s aggregate spending in the five months to May reached P668.43 billion, or three-fourths of the program for the first semester.

The top recipient of subsidies in the first five months was the National Food Authority (NFA) with P4 billion.

Other top recipients of subsidies in January to May were Philippine Health Insurance Corp., or PhilHealth, with P2.97 billion; National Electrification Administration (NEA), P1.56 billion; National Housing Authority (NHA), P1.2 billion; and Philippine Coconut Authority (Philcoa), P656 million.

For May alone, the NFA was also the top recipient, getting P2 billion, or half of the total amount during the month.

Other agencies that got the biggest subsidies in May were the NEA, P1 billion; Philcoa, P180 million; NHA, P200 million; and Cultural Center of the Philippines, P49 million.