Subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) surged in April with the bulk of the subsidies meant to support the irrigation sector, the Bureau of Treasury said.

Data from the state-run Treasury bureau showed that the government increased its budgetary support to state-run firms by 209.47 percent to P27.720 billion in April from P8.957 billion in the same period last year.

During the month, subsidies for other government corporations increased by 0.19 percent to P10.523 billion from last year's P10.503 billion. It covered 37.96 percent of the total budgetary support for the month.

However, budgetary support for major non-financial government corporations during the month declined by 19.46 percent to P15.799 billion from last year's P19.618 billion. It cornered 56.99 percent of the total budgetary support for the month.

The remaining 5.04 percent or P1.398 billion went to government financial institutions.

The government provides subsidies to GOCCs to help them cover operational costs that their own earnings cannot support.

For the month of April alone, 41.21 percent of the total subsidies went to the National Irrigation Administration at P11.425 billion.

The number is an uptick by 194.61 percent from the P3.878 billion the irrigation development and management agency received in the same period last year.

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) secured the second highest subsidy at P8 billion.

PSALM, the government privatization arm with twin mandate of privatizing power assets and liquidating outstanding financial obligations from National Power Corp., did not receive any subsidies during April 2023.

The National Housing Authority, a government agency responsible for public housing in the Philippines, came in third with P3.749 billion. In the same month last year, NHA received P836 million.

Other top subsidy recipients during the month also include the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) at P900 million and the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC)-13 at P512 million.

No subsidy was released to the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC), Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC), Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), National Electrification Administration (NEA), and National Food Authority (NFA) last April.

Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APEZFA), Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), Philippine Postal Corporation (PPC), and the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) also did not receive any subsidies during the same month.

For the four-month period, subsidies increased by 56 percent to P47.307 billion from last year's P30.265 billion.

For January to April, budgetary support for major non-financial government corporations reached P30.978 billion, subsidies for other government corporations hit P13.752 billion, and government financial institutions received P2.577 billion.