GOCC dividends hit record high – DoF
Dividends collected from government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) this year hit a record high of P32.03 billion as of July, the Finance department said on Friday.
“A total of 54 GOCCs remitted a record P32.03 billion in dividends in the first seven months of 2018, which is roughly P1.6 billion more or 5.2 percent higher than the P30.46 billion collected from these state-run firms for the entire year of 2017,” it said in a statement.
A comparable figure yearago figure was not issued.
Citing Republic Act 7656, the Finance department noted that “GOCCs are required to declare and remit to the national government at least half of their income as dividends.”
The top remitters during the period were the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines with P6.225 billion, Philippine Ports Authority (P3.103 billion), Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (P2.844 billion), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (P2.593 billion), Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office (P2.535 billion), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (P2.5 billion) and Manila International Airport Authority (P2.251 billion).
“The remittances of these GOCCs represented 69 percent of the total dividend contributions or P22.052 billion,” the department said.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd, in a recent speech, said that dividends from state-owned firms would “help us offset the subsidies we need to pay out to the GOCCs performing crucial social missions.”
GOCC dividends will also “go a long way” in helping the government to keep manageable budget deficits and funding its infrastructure and social programs, he added.
The budget deficit has been programmed at P523.682 billion or 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2018, P624.370 billion or 3.2 percent for 2019, and 3 percent for 2020-2022. Last year, the government’s budget deficit of P350.6 billion was equivalent to 2.2 percent of GDP.
The government, which is targeting 7.0-8.0 percent gross domestic product growth for 2018 until 2022, is banking on the “Build Build Build” infrastructure program to provide the impetus.
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