The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has reset its revenue targets for the remaining period of the fiscal year after it posted a 32% hike in net income from January to May 2017 to P3.96 billion from P3 billion in the same period last year.
“In view of this, all Port Managers were enjoined to reassess their accomplishments from the start of the year to the present and forecast their revenues for the remaining months of the year keeping in mind the prevailing economic conditions,” PPA general manager Atty. Jay Daniel Santiago said in a statement.
“For the year 2017, growth in terms of Gross Domestic Product is at 7.5%, so this should be your guide,” he said.
PPA in February downgraded its revenue forecast for the year to flat at best due to the deteriorating foreign exchange rates, transfer of control of several high-yielding ports to local governments and Freeport zones, and issues clouding the operations of the mining industry, among others.
It also recently said it was revisiting its cargo volume forecasts for 2017 after posting favorable and encouraging cargo volume growth in the first five months of the year.
PPA said the positive performance at almost all of its ports suggests that the anticipated negative effects of several conditions at the start of the year did not materialize.
Santiago said the intention in reassessing revenue forecasts is “to set a more realistic revenue commitment taking into account the development in the economy during the first half of the year.”
In the first five months of the year, the ports authority recorded an 11.63% growth in revenue to P6.050 billion, up from the P5.419 billion posted in the same period last year. The growth mainly stems from heightened business activity at the ports, coupled with the impact of foreign exchange movements on dollar-denominated tariff.
Fund management income (FMI), on the other hand, declined by 6.38% to P34.21 million from last year’s P36.54 million, attributed to fluctuations in the interest rates on special and high-yield savings deposits.
Total expenditures, covering both operating and non-operating expenses, amounted to P2.084 billion, of which P2.022 billion was disbursed for operating expenditures and the residual amount of P62.61 million channelled to non-operating expenditures.
Corporate expenses from January to May went down by 13.63% to 2.084 billion from P2.413 billion the previous year. The decrease was traced mostly to the decline in operating expenses following downswing in costs incurred for repairs and maintenance and dredging projects, as well as to fairly reduced outlays for personal services and other administrative costs.
As for non-operating expenses, these inched up by 15.75% to P62.61 million from P54.09 million in 2016. The upturn was mainly due to the increase in financial expenses, particularly interest expenses on foreign loans.
PPA, meanwhile, maintained its position in the “billionaires’ club’ of government-owned and controlled corporations, keeping its fourth spot after remitting P1.95 billion in dividends to the national treasury in May this year.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
