Government business enterprises (GBEs) earned P1.268 trillion in 2020 but spent P1.613 trillion, thus, resulting to a P345.11 billion in losses before tax, 2020 Annual Financial Report released by the Commission on Audit has revealed.
Renamed by COA as Commercial Public Sector Entities (CPSE’s), GBE’s or the 88 government corporations and 503 water districts falling under such category registered lower total income of P1.268 trillion in 2020 compared to the P1.464 trillion earnings in 2019.
“Of the total decreases in Service and Business Income, 97.48 percent or P152.75 billion related to Business Income which is mostly attributed to the decrease in Income from Gaming Operations of P71.16 billion or 45.41 percent and Interest Income of P25.00 billion or P15.95 percent,” the 2020 AFR revealed.
The Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation’s income declined by P45.76 billion or 64.31 percent compared to its 2019 performance.
On the other hand, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office also suffered lower sales of P25.40 billion or 36.69 percent lower than its income of P44.03 two years ago.
“A big drop in income was due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic,” revealed the AFR submitted by COA Chairman Michael Aguinaldo.
Asst. Commissioner Winnie Rose H. Encallado led the team that prepared the repor covering the financial reports from the corporate government sector.
“The CY 2020 combined comprehensive loss of CPSEs amounted to P345.11 billion had a decrease of P377.68 billiioin from the CY 2019 combined comprehensive income of P32.57 billion,” COA disclosed.
“This was a result of increase in loss after tax of P255.85 billion and net assistance/subsidy/contributions of P29.14 billion, and decreases in changes in insurance contract reserves of P40.63 billion and other comprehensive income of P110.35 billion.”
For the 45 government corporations classified as non-CPSE’s, total revenues reached P121.37 billion while operating expenses aggregated P160.31 billion, resulting in a deficit of P38.94 billion.
“The deficit was reduc ed to P28.15 billion after adding the other non-operating income and gains and deducting losses, discounts and rebates. The incurrence of Income tax expenses amounting to P426.26 billion further increased the deficit to P28.58 billion,” the audit agency reported.
It stated: “However, after taking into consideration the net assistance/subsidy/contributions of P101.43 billion, it resulted to a net surplus of P72.85 billion.” COA noted a decrease in Tax Revenue that was triggered by the pandemic, particularly the travel restrictions implemented as early as March 2020.
COA said this “resulted in a significant decrease: in the travel tax collection of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).