The national government’s subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations as of end-March declined by 8.08 percent year-on-year, data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
According to the latest cash operations report, subsidies in the first three months of the year totaled to P19.59 billion, down from the P21.31 billion recorded in the same period a year ago.
The lion’s share of the subsidies released to state-run firms, amounting to P10.32 billion, went to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), which is responsible for irrigation development and management.
Meanwhile, aside from NIA, the only other billionaire recipients are the National Food Authority (NFA) and National Electrification Administration (NEA).
NFA received P2.25 billion during the said period, while NEA took in a share of P2.09 billion.
In March alone, government subsidies to state firms fell by 36.34 percent to P6.87 billion.
The BTr earlier reported that the country’s budget deficit narrowed in March as revenues recorded a double-digit hike, outpacing the slight increase in expenditures.
The government incurred a P195.9 billion budget shortfall in March, 6.82 percent lower versus last year’s P210.3 billion.
This led to a cumulative budget gap of P272.6 billion for the first quarter of 2024, marking a slight increase of 0.65 percent from the P270.9 billion fiscal deficit recorded for the same period a year ago.
