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By Chino S. Leyco Reporter
THE sale of Philippine National
Oil Co. Energy Development Corp. provided the government the
revenues it needs to fund infrastructures and social services, the
Department of Finance said.
In a statement, Finance Secretary
Margarito B. Teves said the P47 billion in net revenues from
privatization proceeds last month was 35-fold the P1.36 billion in
cash dividends that the government has received from PNOC-EDC in the
last 17 years.
Teves said, “We would like to
put the privatization of PNOC-EDC in perspective. These revenues
raised are far greater than what the government has been receiving
from the company.”
He added that the privatization
of PNOC-EDC has created an opportunity for increased job-creating
investments and energy security in the country.
Based on DOF data, the highest
remittance made by the company to the national government this year
was P446 million.
“It would take 94 years for the
government to receive a total of P47 billion from PNOC-EDC if the
company were to remit P500 million in cash dividends annually,”
the statement said.
The privatization of PNOC-EDC
starting from its initial public offering in December last year to
the sale of government’s remaining stake last month generated
P34.8 billion in gross revenues, of which the national government
received a net of P66.7 billion.
More significantly, PNOC-EDC’s
privatization has pushed national budget last month to a record
P54.1 billion from a deficit of P5.8 billion in the same period a
year ago.
Without the sale, Teves said the
country would have recorded P35-billion deficit in November.
In January to November, the
national government posted a surplus of P12.6 billion, a turnaround
from deficits of P58.3 billion incurred in the same period last year
and P41.5 billion at end-October this year.
“The P12.7-billion surplus in
the January to November period will enable us to end 2007 on a much
stronger fiscal position than envisioned,” Teves told reporters.
He also said that DOF is looking
at a much smaller deficit at the end of the year.
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