ADB Financing to PH Seen to Hit Record-High $4.2-B

Financing to be extended by the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) to the Philippines is expected to rise to record-high USD4.21 billion this year.

In a virtual briefing Thursday, Oscar Badiola, ADB Philippines senior programs officer, said from an average of USD800 million annually from 2011-2017, total lending to the Philippines is expected to hit USD4.2 billion this year and an average of about USD3 billion in the next two years.

Badiola said the additional lending includes those for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) response.

About 70 percent of the total financing is for projects under the priority Build, Build, Build (BBB) program, especially for the Visayas and Mindanao, he said.

ADB data indicate that project financing that have been approved to date include the USD1.5-billion Covid-19 active response and expenditure support program, USD200-million social protection support project second additional financing, the USD400-million support to capital market generated infrastructure financing sub-program 1, the USD500-million expanded social assistance program, the USD126-million Angat Water Transmission Improvement Project additional financing, and the USD26.5-million local governance reform projects.

Programs that are in the pipeline for financing this year are the USD400-million competitive and inclusive agriculture development program, subprograms 1; the USD300-million inclusive finance development program, subprogram 2; the USD125-million health systems enhancement to address and limit Covid-19; the USD500-million disaster resilience improvement program; and the USD130-million EDSA greenways project.

For next year, 10 programs will be funded and these are the south commuter railway project, USD1.75 billion; the integrated flood risk management sector project, USD400 million; sustainable tourism development project, USD50 million; Metro Manila bridges project, USD180 million; Davao public transportation modernization project, USD238 billion.

Also funded are the Mindanao irrigation development project phase 1, USD100 million; local governance reform program, subprogram 2, USD400 million; facilitating youth school-to-work transition, subprogram 3, USD400 million; Baguio City sanitation improvement project, USD100 million; and the building up implementation and local level drivers for universal health care program, USD500 million.

Badiola said there is also a standby program worth USD1 billion for the Bataan-Cavite Bridge Project.

“For this year we expect (lending) to reach USD4.2 billion and yes, that will be the largest ever for the Philippines,” ADB Country Director for the Philippines Kelly Bird said in the same briefing.

In terms of how this financing level places the Philippines vis-à-vis the other developing Asian economies as ADB financing beneficiary, Bird said they “won’t know (this) until the end of the year.”

He said ADB has established a USD20-billion Covid pandemic response facility and other countries have tapped this facility.

“But certainly, ADB’s over-all lending for this year has increased across ADB,” he added. (PNA)