Health sector gets bulk of government subsidy in August

MANILA, Philippines — The government ramped up its budgetary support to state-run firms by a little over 20 percent to P19 billion in August, with the bulk of subsidies going to the health sector.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) in August jumped by 22 percent to P18.93 billion from P15.54 billion in the same period last year.

During the month, budgetary support for major non-financial government corporations reached P4.38 billion, up by 44 percent.

On the other hand, subsidies for other government corporations picked up by 16 percent to P14.42 billion from P12.39 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 August, nearly 70 percent of the total subsidies went to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. at P12.93 billion.

This is a 15 percent increase from the P11.23 billion it received in the same period last year.

The National Irrigation Administration secured the second highest subsidy at P3.05 billion, while the National Housing Authority came in third with P992 million.

During the month, no subsidy was released to the National Electrification Administration, Bases Conversion and Development Authority, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., Philippine Postal Corp., Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., and Social Housing Finance Corp.

For the eight-month period, subsidies went up by 17.5 percent to P115.87 billion from P98.6 billion a year ago.

For January to August, budgetary support for major non-financial government corporations reached P41.74 billion, slightly down by two percent, while subsidies for other government corporations picked up by 34 percent to P73.64 billion.

In August, the government incurred a higher budget deficit of P133 billion as revenue collections declined while state spending expanded.

Total revenue collections went down by 6.58 percent to P310.6 billion, as both tax and non-tax revenues decreased while government spending rose by almost 10 percent to P443.6 billion.