The amount of subsidy the Marcos administration extended to government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) was slashed by more than half in August, but bulk of it went to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
Based on the Bureau of the Treasury data, financial support extended to state-owned corporations dropped 63 percent to P15.5 billion in August this year from P42.35 billion in the same month in 2021.
The GOCC that received a huge portion of the subsidy was PhilHealth, getting P11.23 billion, or 72.4 percent of the total during the month.
Other major recipients of subsidy were the National Irrigation Administration with P2.53 billion.
Moreover, the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority received P291 million subsidy along with the National Food Authority with P219 million, Philippine Children and Medical Center with P164 million, and Philippine Heart Center with P147 million.
In addition, National Power Corp., National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. and National Kidney and Transplant Institute all received P147 million, P109 million and P107 million financial support from the national government.
Meanwhile, government subsidy to state corporations reached P90.6 billion in January to August, down 33 percent from P136.7 billion in the same period last year.
The smaller subsidy to GOCCs in the first eight months comes as the Marcos administration’s budget shortfall dropped.
The national government incurred a P72-billion fiscal gap in August, down 40 percent from P120.9 billion last year, the treasury bureau reported last Sept. 30.
Based on the treasury data, the substantial decline in budget deficit was driven the 28 percent growth in revenues, particularly the improved collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs.
In August, total revenues amounted to P332.4 billion, an increase from P259.3 billion.
Of that amount, the BIR, which contributes about two-thirds to government coffers, raised P228.9 billion, higher by 23 percent compared with P242.4 billion in the same month in 2022.
According to the Treasury, BIR’s tax haul was its highest monthly nominal growth for the first eight months of the year.
Meanwhile, the Customs bureau raised P78.9 billion in August, an increase of 48 percent from P53.4 billion a year earlier.
Other factor that brought down the government’s budget deficit was the slower public spending during the month, the treasury bureau said.
Government expenditures rose by only 6.4 percent during the month to P404.5 billion from
P380.2 billion a year ago.
In the first eight months of 2022, the government’s budget deficit amounted to P883 billion, 13 percent lower than the P958.2 billion in the same period last year.