Gov’t doubles NFA subsidy to P8B

THE GOVERNMENT IS DOUBLING ITS subsidy for the National Food Authority in 2010 to P8 billion in an apparent move to avert a repeat of the rice crisis in 2008 as it continues its stimulus spending next year.

This means that subsidies for the NFA would have been rising exponentially from P2 billion in 2008 to P4 billion this year.

Documents on the proposed national budget for 2010 showed that state firms engaged in rice and basic services like housing and health will continue to receive bulk of subsidies.

Philippine Health Insurance Corp. or PhilHealth will again receive P5 billion as in 2009, which is more than thrice the P1.45 billion it got in 2008.

While the National Housing Authority will get P3.17 billion next year or a percent less than the P3.2 billion earmarked this year, the NHA is still the third biggest beneficiary of subsidy from the national treasury.

This means that the NFA, PhilHealth and NHA as a group will be representing a combined P16.17 billion or 84 percent of total subsidies in 2010, which is proposed at P19.17 billion.

This year, the three state firms are getting a total of P12.2 billion or about 68 percent of all subsidies pegged at P18.06 billion.

Completing the top five recipients among 46 government-owned and -controlled corporations are the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PRRI), which the government wants to give P595 million and P418 million, respectively, in 2010.

The proposed subsidy for PCA is the same as this year’s, which is 38 percent more than the P430.5 million it received in 2008.

As for PRRI, the proposed 2010 subsidy is almost the same as the P419 million it is receiving this year and 57 percent higher than the P265.7 million it got in 2008.

Finance officials have maintained that increased government spending is mainly directed at economic activities aimed at countering the slowdown in economic and business activities.

They also said such spending was in line with the policy to accommodate increased emphasis on infrastructure and social services that is expected to enable the economy to post a modest growth despite to global financial crisis. –Ronnel Domingo, Philippine Daily Inquirer