Despite a year-long trend of declining government support, state-owned corporations, particularly major non-financial institutions, received a substantial boost in subsidies in November last year

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that state subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) surged to P12.23 billion in November 2024.

This record marked a dramatic jump from the P6.73 billion recorded a year ago. It was also slightly higher than the P11.97 billion in October.

GOCC subsidies reached P129.44 billion in the first 11 months of 2024, down from P153.05 billion during the same period in 2023.

The end-November subsidies fell significantly short of the P222.5 billion budget for 2024.

Government financial institutions (GFIs) received P132 million in subsidies this November, a sharp increase from zero a year ago and significantly higher than P15 million in October.

As of end-November, GFIs had received P5.58 billion in subsidies, dramatically increasing from P486 million during the same period last year.

Subsidies to major nonfinancial state-owned firms rose to P11.09 billion in November, from P4.61 billion a year ago and slightly higher than P10.72 billion in October.

This brought the total subsidies for the year to P88.15 billion, up from P71.17 billion as of end-November last year.

Meanwhile, disbursements to other state-owned firms further declined to P1.01 billion from P1.24 billion in October, which plummeted from P10.61 billion in September. This was also lower than the P2.13 billion given in the same month last year.

Subsidies for the first 11 months totaled P35.72 billion, significantly lower than the P81.40 billion recorded in the same period last year. In the previous month, the figure dropped sharply to P34.71 billion from last year’s P79.27 billion.

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) received the largest portion of November's subsidies, amounting to P6.85 billion, up from P2.52 billion a year ago.

The National Food Authority (NFA) followed with P3.0 billion, having the same amount received in October. Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) ranked third with P900 million. 

Completing the top five recipients were National Power Corporation (NPC), which received P248 million, a significant increase from P47 million last year, and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC), which was allocated P211 million, up from P135 million in 2023.

Last year, subsidies extended to GOCCs cost the national government some P165.53 billion. This amount declined from the previous year’s P200.41 billion.

The GOCCs that received substantial portions of the subsidy were Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and NIA, getting P50.7 billion and P40.7 billion, respectively.