Government cuts subsidies to P15 billion in April

MANILA, Philippines — The government slashed its budgetary support to state-run firms by nearly half to P15 billion in April, with the bulk of the subsidies meant to support the energy sector.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) went down by 48 percent to P14.54 billion in April from P27.72 billion in the same period last year.

During the month, budgetary support for major non-financial government corporations plummeted by 70 percent to P4.82 billion.

Likewise, subsidies for other government corporations declined by 11 percent to P9.41 billion from P10.52 billion a year ago.

The government grants subsidies to GOCCs as a way to cover operational expenses that are not supported by their own revenues.

For April, about 55 percent of the total subsidies went to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. at P8 billion.

This is the same amount the agency received in the same period last year.

The National Irrigation Administration secured the second highest subsidy at P3.76 billion. This is almost 70 percent lower than the P11.43 billion in budget support last year.

The National Food Authority came in third with P750 million. NFA did not receive any subsidy in April 2024.

Other top subsidy recipients during the month include the Philippine Rubber Research Institute, SB Corp., National Power Corp., Philippine Heart Center and Philippine Children’s Medical Center.

During the month, no subsidy was released to the National Housing Authority, Bases Conversion and Development Authority, Development Academy of the Philippines, Philippine Center for Economic Development and Philippine Crop Insurance Corp.

The Philippine Fisheries Development Authority, Philippine Tax Academy, Sugar Regulatory Administration and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority also did not get subsidy allocation in April.

For the four-month period, subsidies slipped by 22 percent to P37.13 billion from P47.31 billion a year ago.

From January to April, budgetary support for major non-financial government corporations reached P17.94 billion, down by 42 percent, while subsidies for other government corporations increased by 36 percent to P18.68 billion.

In April, the government swung to a higher budget surplus of P67.3 billion as the slower growth of state expenditures still offset the decline in government revenues.

During the month, overall government expenditures declined by eight percent to P454.8 billion while revenues slightly went down three percent to P522.1 billion amid the timing of non-tax collections.