Subsidies to state firms rise by 50%

Subsidies given to state firms rose by 49.46% in the first three months of the year to P3.327 billion from P2.226 billion in the same period last year, Finance department data showed. A document showed that the bulk of the subsidies, or P1.619 billion, went to the National Housing Authority which is responsible for providing housing programs for the poor. The second largest subsidy went to the National Livelihood Development Corp. which received P789 million. Third was the Philippine Coconut Authority which received P146 million, followed by the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (P130 million) and the National Labor Relations Commission (P100 million). Other state firms which received subsidies were the Philippine Heart Center (P99 million), Philippine Children's Medical Center (P68 million), National Food Authority (P57 million), Lung Center of the Philippines (P55 million), and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (P35 million). For the month of March alone, subsidies to state firms grew by 194.68% to P2.493 billion from P846 million a year earlier. The subsidies are part of the government's expenditures which totaled P400 billion in the first quarter, higher than the programmed P377.2 billion. - BusinessWorld