Asian Development Bank lends $940 million to RP in 2008

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines received a total of $940 million (approximately P47 billion) worth of loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) last year.

The country likewise received a $9.4-million technical assistance grant for 11 projects. Among these was the $1-million grant for the microfinance sector.

There are 13 ongoing loan projects in the country with contract commitments worth $632.2 million.

The ADB said the performance indicators for active loans for the Philippines remain sound. The net resources transfer to the Philippines continued to remain positive.

“Undisbursed loan balances were reduced, and the government paid significantly less in commitment fees,” it said.

The ADB said that the loan programs supported policy-based operations in governance and justice reforms, improving the investment climate, enchancing governance in public expenditure management, and reducing poverty and achieving greater social inclusion. It likewise helped strengthen agrarian reform to benefit poor and marginalized groups in the target communities.

“These programs significantly helped fiscal consolidation,” the Manila-based institution added.

Earlier, the ADB said that it approved a total of $10.5 billion in loans last year, up 5.3 percent from the 1997 level.

The 2008 amount is the highest in ADB’s 42-year history. It reflects the region’s ever-increasing development finance demand, and the assistance provided by ADB to help developing member countries deal with the impact of the global financial crisis.

India was the largest borrower with $2.9 billion, or 27.4 percent of the total loans.

Loans with government guarantees last year totaled $8.7 billion for 72 projects. Of this amount, $6.9 billion came from the ordinary capital resources of ADB, while the balance was sourced from the concessional Asian Development Fund (ADF).