ODA disbursements drop 2.3% to $1.095B in 2004

Official development assistance (ODA) disbursements to the Philippines dropped 2.2 percent from $1.408 billion in 2003 to $1.095 billion last year, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

At the same time, NEDA noted that cumulative ODA commitments have gradually shrunk from $13.2 billion in 2001 to $10.7 billion last year.

Roland G. Tungpalan, NEDA assistant to director general, explained that the contraction of ODA loan commitments and actual disbursements were not due to lack of confidence from bilateral or multilateral funding sources.

"Prudence and better focus on priority projects are the two main reasons for the reduction," Tungpalan said.

He cited other reasons such as the inability of borrowing agencies to raise the necessary counterpart funds or budget cover, right-of-way (ROW) issues, procurement hitches, and inability to raise a sovereign guarantee.

The National Government, through NEDA, has started a review of the feasibility of ODA-funded projects to focus on the six-year Medium Term Philippine Development Program (MTPDP) which, in turn, is guided by the 10-point agenda of the Arroyo administration.

A key change for ODA fund sourcing is the expansion to the inter-agency coordination committee (ICC) which represents of several government departments and agencies working closely with NEDA, on top of the Developemnt Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) which is traditionally the agency overseeing ODA-funded activities.

The country’s four leading funding sources are Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and smaller agencies from European nations.

JBIC accounts for 61 percent of all ODA funds and is still the single biggest funding source for the country. The World Bank accounts for 13 percent, the ADB, 11 percent;, and others, 15 percent.

Actual disbursement levels, for both program and project loans, has been erratic since 2000 when $924 million were released, slipping to $874.4 million the following year. In 2002, the level increased to $34.8 million and peaked to $1.408 billion in 2003. Last year, it reached $1.095 billion.

The availment rate, meanwhile, dropped from a high of 62 percent in 2001 to a low of 58 percent last year. The availment rate is the cumulative rate disbursement as a percentage of cumulative scheduled disbursement from the start of all projects.

The disbursement rate (or the actual disbursement as a percentage of target disbursements), likewise fell from a high of 89 percent in 2003 to a low of 72 percent in 2004.

The completed ODA-funded projects last year were in the areas of infrastructure such as power, water, transportation terminals sea- and airports, and social reform including hospitals.