The national government’s subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations in the first 10 months of 2024 declined by 19.89 percent year-on-year, data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
According to the latest cash operations report posted on the BTr’s website, subsidies in January to October totaled to P117.21 billion, which fell from the P146.32 billion recorded in the same period a year ago.
The lion’s share of the subsidies released to state-run firms, amounting to P60.21 billion, went to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), which is responsible for irrigation development and management.
Meanwhile, aside from NIA, other top recipients are the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. with P9.6 billion, Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. with P8 billion, National Housing Authority (NHA) with P5.53 billion and the National Food Authority (NFA) with P5.25 billion.
In October alone, government subsidies to state firms rose by 30.24 percent to P11.97 billion from the P9.19 billion a year ago.
Billionaire recipients for the month are NIA with P5.83 billion, NFA P3 with billion and NHA P1.73 with billion.
The BTr earlier reported that the national government posted a P6.3 billion fiscal surplus in October as the growth in revenues significantly outpaced that of expenditures.
The surplus in October is a reversal of the P34.4 billion deficit recorded a year ago.
Revenue collections accelerated in October with double-digit growth of 22.63 percent, outpacing the 11.08 percent year-on-year increase in expenditures.
Thus, the year-to-date deficit narrowed to P963.9 billion, which stands at only 64.94 percent of the P1.48 trillion full-year program.
