Subsidy to state firms down by 38% in Jan.-April

MANILA, Philippines—The government extended some P1 billion in subsidies to state-owned and -controlled corporations in April, the bulk of which went to postal service, irrigation, railways and health agencies.

Data from the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) showed that the amount was only about one-third of the P2.8 billion given out in the same month last year.

This brought cumulative subsidies to state firms in the first four months of the year to P5.2 billion, down by 38 percent from P8.4 billion in the same period last year.

Cumulative expenses on subsidies have been easing year on year as the government tempered its budget deficit amid double-digit growth in spending for the four-month period.

“The reforms that the Aquino government embedded in the 2013 national budget helped us ensure faster and more focused government spending,” Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said last week.

Abad said that new budgeting regimes that have been introduced so far had improved the government’s capacity to deliver on its development priorities.

He was referring to policies such as the one-year validity of all appropriations, the policy against lump sum funds, procurement innovations that enabled the early tender of projects and tighter focus on the administration’s priority deliverables.

The top recipient of subsidies among state firms, in terms of cumulative receipt from January to April, was the National Housing Authority with P1.6 billion.

Others in the top five recipients were the National Kidney and Transplant Institute with P1.1 billion; Philippine Coconut Authority, P820 million; Philippine Postal Corp., P516 million, and Philippine Rice Research Institute, P133 million.

For April, alone, Philippine Postal Corp. was the top recipient, getting about 9 percent of the total subsidy during the month.

In April, the National Irrigation Administration received P398 million in subsidy; Philippine National Railways, P41 million; Philippine Children’s Medical Center, P25 million, and Philippine Heart Center, P16 million.