GOCC dividends hit P40B in 2018 – DoF
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2019 16:18:28 +0000
DIVIDENDS collected from government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) hit a record P40.17 billion last year, the Department of Finance (DoF) reported on Sunday.
“Dividends remitted by government-owned or -controlled corporations breached the P40-billion mark in 2018, the highest amount ever collected since the law requiring state firms to hand over 50 percent of their annual net earnings to the national government was enacted in 1994,” the Finance department said in a statement.
These dividends represent a 32-percent jump from the P30.46 billion collected in 2017.
“This is unprecedented,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd was quoted as saying in the statement.
He said the record amount “demonstrates the effectivity” of Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko, who heads the DoF-Corporate Affairs Group (CAG), “and her team in instilling fiscal discipline among the GOCCs since the Duterte administration took over in 2016.”
The Finance department also revealed that 55 GOCCs remitted to the National Treasury as of December 14.
The cash dividend collections from state-owned firms in 2018 make up 15.72 percent of the emerging total non-tax revenues of the government.
The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. is the year’s top dividend contributor at P8.844 billion.
Other significant contributors were the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines with P6.224 billion; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, P3.637 billion; Philippine Ports Authority, P3.103 billion; Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., P2.593 billion; Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, P2.535 billion; Manila International Airport Authority, P2.251 billion; and the National Power Corp., P1.410 billion.
GOCCs are required to declare and remit at least half of their income as dividends to the national government under Republic Act 7656.
From July 2016 to December 2018, total cash dividend collections now amount to P70.9 billion, the DoF said.
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