The national government’s subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) contracted by 5.95 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2025, data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
Data posted on the BTr website as of Sunday showed subsidy support to state-run corporations in January to February amounted to P11.959 billion, down from P12.715 billion disbursed in the year-earlier period.
GOCCs that received the biggest share of subsidies as of end-February, and the only billionaire recipients for the period, were the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), with P4.24 billion, the National Food Authority (NFA), with P2.25 billion, and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), with P1.939 billion.
For the month of February alone, government subsidies to state-run corporations dropped 40.43 percent to P7.574 billion from P12.715 billion in the same month last year.
NIA accounted for the largest chunk of P3.155, followed by BCDA’s P1.939 billion.
Michael Ricafort, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist, said the lower subsidies may be consistent with fiscal improvement measures, with a view to reducing the national government’s budget deficit and moderate the need to borrow for bridging the budget deficit.
“This signals that the priority is to boost agricultural productivity and boost local food supply to help stabilize local food prices and bring down overall inflation,” he said.
“Some profitable GOCCs are even encouraged to remit more dividends to the national government to reduce the need for additional borrowings,” Ricafort added.
John Paolo Rivera, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said the year-on-year and month-on-month declines in subsidies likely reflect timing issues in fund releases and a shift toward more targeted or performance-based allocations.
“The focus on NIA, NFA and BCDA suggests the government is prioritizing food security, irrigation infrastructure and strategic development projects, especially under the Marcos administration’s push for agriculture and estate development,” Rivera said.
State-run corporations receive subsidies to cover day-to-day operations, especially when revenues are insufficient. Profitable GOCCs also receive program funds to pay for a specific program or project, the Governance Commission for GOCCs notes in its annual performance evaluation of government corporations.
