ADB's lending to Philippines to reach $3.3B in 2020, half of it for Build, Build, Build

Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) is looking to boost its funding for the Philippines this year to support the Duterte administration's Build, Build, Build infrastructure initiative.

"ADB lending to the Philippines is planned to reach a record high of $3.3 billion this year, with about half supporting the government’s infrastructure program," the multilateral lender said in a statement Wednesday.

The $3.3-billion loan financing will fund the Philippine government's priority projects such as the South Commuter Railway, the EDSA Greenways Pedestrian Walkways, and the Angat Water Transmission Aqueduct 7, as well as initiatives to boost social protection, sustainable tourism, and capital market development, the ADB said.

In 2019, the ADB’s sovereign lending to the Philippines totaled $2.5 billion, up from $1.4 billion in 2018.

Meanwhile, the $2.75-billion Malolos–Clark Railway Project is ADB’s largest project financing in the Asia and Pacific region to date.

Construction work is expected to begin by the middle of this year, the bank said.

President Rodrigo Duterte greets Asian Development Bank president Masatsugu Asakawa as Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III looks on at the Department of Finance Building inside the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex in Manila on Monday, February 24, 2020. ADB said its lending to the Philippines is expected to reach a record high of $3.3 billion in 2020. Albert Alcain/Presidential Photo

ADB president Masatsugu Asakawa paid a courtesy visit to President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday and pledged full support for the country’s proactive development agenda.

This was the first courtesy visit by Asakawa to the Philippine President.

Asakawa also met with Finance Secretary and ADB Governor Carlos Dominguez and reiterated ADB’s full support for the country’s growth and development goals, including the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure development program and the peace and economic development initiative in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The ADB chief lauded the Philippine government for bringing down the national poverty rate to 16.6% in 2018 from 23.3% in 2015, citing the country’s high economic growth rates, job creation, and expanded social assistance programs.

The government aims to further reduce the national poverty rate to 14% by 2022.

“ADB’s partnership with our host country, the Philippines, has never been stronger,” Asakawa said.

“ADB is committed to supporting the government’s effort to reduce poverty and create high quality jobs for Filipinos by building a competitive economy and caring society," he said. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA News