Subsidies to state firms jumped 56% in 2013

Government subsidies to state-run companies surged in 2013, driven by the funding support for the universal healthcare, electrification and housing programs of the Aquino administration.

A report from the Department of Finance showed that the national government spent P66.33 billion on the subsidies last year, up by 56 percent from the amount it disbursed in 2012.

In December alone, subsidies reached P27.26 billion, up by 71 percent from the previous year.

The National Electrification Administration (NEA) got the biggest financial support at P14.03 billion.

Officials earlier said the government had to provide substantial funding assistance to the NEA to help achieve the aim of providing electricity to the remaining remote communities in the country that were still without electricity.

Based on reports posted on the website of NEA, 81 percent of all potential electricity connections in the country have been put up as of the end of last year, up from 79 percent as of the end of 2012. The 2-percentage-point increase was equivalent to 461,729 additional connections made last year.

The second-biggest recipient of subsidy was the National Housing Authority (NHA), which got P13.34 billion.

The Department of Budget and Management earlier said that funds were given to the NHA to build houses for informal settlers who needed to be relocated for safety reasons.

The DBM said households living near waterways were a priority in the relocation program of the NHA due to threats posed to their security by natural disasters.

Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) got the third-biggest amount of subsidy worth P12.65 billion.

The funding support given to Philhealth came with the Aquino administration’s pronouncements that it aims to eventually achieve accessibility of good-quality healthcare services for all Filipinos, mainly through health insurance.

The two other agencies that completed the top 5 recipients of subsidies were the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), which received P5.11 billion, and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), which got P3.02 billion.

Other state-run companies that got at least a billion pesos worth of subsidies last year were: National Food Authority (NFA), P2.32 billion; Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC), P1.88 billion; Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), P1.31 billion; National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), P1.28 billion; Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC), P1.18 billion; National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC), P1 billion, and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), P1 billion.

The increase in subsidies boosted the government’s overall spending last year.

Total expenditures of the national government in 2013 hit P1.88 trillion, up year-on-year by 6 percent. With total revenues of the government at P1.72 trillion, the budget deficit stood at P164.1 billion last year.

The latest annual budget deficit was below the official ceiling of P238 billion and marked a decline from the P242.8-billion gap in 2012.