Agriculture sector gets bulk of subsidies in October

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) in October dropped by 77 percent to P9.19 billion from P39.92 billion in the same period last year.
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MANILA, Philippines — The government slashed its budgetary support to state-run firms by close to 80 percent to just P9.2 billion in October, with the bulk of the subsidies going to the agriculture sector.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) in October dropped by 77 percent to P9.19 billion from P39.92 billion in the same period last year.

During the month, budgetary support for major non-financial government corporations reached P8.18 billion, down by 55 percent.

On the other hand, subsidies for other government corporations plummeted by 95 percent to P1.01 billion from P21.82 billion a year ago.

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

For October, nearly 70 percent of the total subsidies went to support the agriculture sector, specifically the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and the National Food Authority (NFA).

NIA got the biggest allocation at P4.11 billion, but this was a 41 percent decrease from the P6.95 billion it received in the same period last year.

NFA secured the second highest subsidy at P2.01 billion while the National Housing Authority came in third with P1.15 billion.

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 Fisheries Development Authority and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

The Philippine Postal Corp., Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., SB Corp., Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Social Housing Finance Corp. and the Sugar Regulatory Administration also did not receive budgetary support.

For the 10-month period, subsidies went down by 10 percent to P146.32 billion from P162.17 billion a year ago.

For January to October, budgetary support for major non-financial government corporations reached P66.56 billion, inching up by a percentage, while subsidies for other government corporations slipped by 18 percent to P79.27 billion.

In October, the government incurred a lower budget deficit of P34 billion after revenue collections rose faster than the expansion of state spending.

Total revenue collections went up by 34 percent to P385.5 billion as both tax and non-tax revenues increased while government spending only picked up by eight percent to P420.2 billion.

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