The national government’s subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations in the first quarter declined by 18.9 percent, 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 P21.31 billion, down from the P26.27 billion recorded in the same period a year ago.
The lion’s share of the subsidies released to state-run firms, amounting to P10.18 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 were the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) with P5 billion, National Food Authority with P1.24 billion and the National Power Corp. with P1.11 billion.
In March alone, subsidies to state-firms amounted to P10.8 billion which inched up from the P10.72 billion recorded in the same month a year ago.
PSALM received the entire amount of P5 billion during that month.
NIA was the only other billionaire recipient for March aside from PSALM, with P3.4 billion.
The BTr earlier reported that the national government’s budget deficit widened in March amid a two-digit drop in revenues versus the previous year’s level.
The budget deficit for March 2023 rose to P210.3 billion, 12.04 percent higher compared to last year’s shortfall of P187.7 billion.
The higher fiscal gap was brought about by an 11.99 percent decrease in government receipts even as spending was lower by 2.62 percent.
The cumulative budget gap of P270.9 billion, however, was still lower by 14.51 percent versus the previous year’s level of P316.8 billion as revenue collections improved by 4.38 percent during the period. – Angela Celis
