The national government’s subsidies to state-run corporations decreased by nearly a quarter year-on-year as of August 2024 with the lion’s share of the support released to the irrigation sector, the Bureau of Treasury said.
Data from the latest cash operations report posted on the BTr’s website showed that subsidies decreased from P115.863 billion in January to August 2023 to P87.025 billion, or 24.89 percent, less than P28.838 billion.
The largest non-financial government firms received P59.434 billion, or most government subsidies. This is a 42.39 percent increase from the P41.740 billion given to these organizations the previous year.
Budgetary support for other government corporations dropped by 222.90 percent from P73.637 billion in August 2023 to end-August 2024, to P22.805 billion.
The government allocated a large chunk or P48.89 billion worth of subsidies to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), which is responsible for developing and running irrigation systems.
After NIA, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. received P8 billion, the National Housing Authority received P3.8 billion, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) received P2.8 billion, and the National Food Authority received P2.25 billion.
In August alone, subsidies dropped by 51.92 percent to P9.1 billion, down from P18.929 billion in the same month last year. Subsidies also decreased month-on-month by 15.10 percent from P10.719 billion in July 2024.
Major non-financial government corporations received a combined total of P6.034 billion, while government financial institutions and other government corporations were allocated P1.984 billion and P1.082 billion, respectively.’
The NIA and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. were the only ones who received billions of pesos during the month. NIA received P5.6 billion while PCIC got P1.9 billion in August.
Earlier, the BTr reported that the national government’s budget deficit in August narrowed as government spending slightly decreased year-on-year. The national government recorded a P54.2 billion deficit in August 2024, a reduction of 59.24 percent, or P78.8 billion, compared to the P133 billion shortfall from the same period last year.
The reduced budget deficit was due to a 24.4 percent increase in government revenues, alongside a slight 0.68 percent decline in expenditures. This brought the year-to-date budget deficit down to P697 billion, a 4.86 percent improvement from the P732.5 billion deficit in the previous year, accounting for 46.95 percent of the P1.5 trillion full-year target for 2024.(TCSP)
