THE subsidy provided by the national government for June this year amounted to P9.718 billion, with most of it going to the National Food Authority (NFA) at P5.200 billion, Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data showed.
Total government subsidies for 2018’s first semester amounted to P62.492 billion, 7.3 percent higher than the subsidies made in the first half of 2017, or P58.219 billion.
Next to the NFA, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) got second-biggest subsidy, P2.996 billion.
Meanwhile, the BTr reported last week that the national government’s outstanding debt hit P7.016 trillion, rising by 2.7 percent from the P6.832 trillion recorded in the previous month. It is also higher by 9.3 percent from the P6.417 trillion recorded in June 2017.
The BTr traced the increase in debt to the domestic retail bonds issuance and peso depreciation. Of the total stock, 34.74 percent or P2.437 trillion were sourced externally, and 65.26 percent or P4.579 trillion, domestically.
The country’s domestic debt grew by 3.5 percent compared to the end-May 2018 level of P4.424 trillion. It was 9.4 percent than last year’s P4.186 trillion debt in June. External debt rose by 1.2 percent compared to the end-May level of P2.408 trillion, expanding by 9.3 percent from the P2.230 trillion debt recorded in June 2017.