RP’s ODA loans reach $8.41B as of March

The country’s total official development assistance (ODA) loans have reached $8.41 billion as of end March this year, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

Of the total, Japan has the biggest commitment at $4.85 billion or 58 percent of the total ODA loan portfolio.

In a recent meeting, NEDA told Japan’s Citizen ODA Monitoring Mission that the rest of the ODA loans include aid from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) amounting to roughly $1.15 billion or 14 percent of total World Bank assistance amounting to $1.12 billion or 13 percent, and other donors extending a combined $1.3 billion in aid.

The infrastructure sector took the biggest share in Japanese aid amounting to about $3.49 billion, followed by the agriculture, natural resources and agrarian reform sector with $711 million.

Assistance to industry, trade and tourism hit $468 million while another $148 million in aid found its way to social reform and community development projects.

The Japanese assistance portfolio comes from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

Of the $8.41 billion in total ODA, $5.16 billion was used for the infrastructure sector, $1.55 billion for the agriculture, natural resources and agrarian reform sector, another $946 million for social reform and community development, $737 million for the industry, trade and tourism sectors, and $22 million in governance and institutions.

There are 53 ongoing projects under the Japan portfolio since April this year.

Major recipients include the Department of Public Works and Highways (35 percent), the Development Bank of the Philippines (13 percent), the Department of Transportation and Communication (13 percent), the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (eight percent), and the National Irrigation Administration (six percent).

Among the major projects receiving Japanese funding are the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project (42 billion yen), the LRT Line 1 Capacity Expansion Project II (22 billion yen), the Urgent Bridges Construction for Rural Development Project (eight billion yen), the Subic Bay Port Development Project (16 billion yen), Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project II (17 billion yen), and the Arterial Road Links Development Project IV (¥15 billion).

NEDA assistant director general Rolando G. Tungpalan told the Japanese monitoring team that their ODA is being channeled to priority projects and those outlined in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP 2004-2010) and the Medium-Term Public Investment Program (MTPIP).

Tungpalan assured that the projects go through stringent government appraisal and selection process, and that NEDA is strengthening implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation to ensure the overall success of the projects.