DBM to ask World Bank for another $100-M loan

The Department of Budget and Management (DMB) will ask the World Bank for another $100-million loan for Social Expenditure Management Project (SEMP) next year after the successful utilization of the first $100 million SEMP this year.

"Because of the success of the first SEMP loan, we are now designing a new loan proposal for World Bank," Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said yesterday.

He said the project loan was used to improve the procurement program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).

Specifically, he said the procurement program designed under the SEMP project was successful in enhancing the delivery of supplies and services in these two government agencies.

According to Diokno, the World Bank-funded program also allowed the DBM to improve the transparency in the procurement of government agencies.

He said in the next loan, they intend to include the enchancement of the procurement program of the Department of Health (DOH).

For fiscal year ending June 2000, the WB has approved some $278 million loans including the two new project/program loans amounting to $250 million which were approved by the WB Board last Feb. 15.

These two new loans include the first $100 million SEMP and $150 million representing the first tranche of the 10-12 year $850 million National Roads Improvement and Management Project (NRIMP).

The DBM has oversight responsibility for the SEMP. The loan carries a standard interest for LIBOR-based dollar single-currency loans, with maturity at 20 years including a five-year grace period. The NRIMP, on the other hand, was based on newly-introduced fixed-spread loan, with maturity of 20 years including a grace period 7 1/2 years. The estimated total cost of the program is $2 billion, of which $850 million is expected to come from WB.