Govt grateful to ADB for infrastructure loans

THANKS for the greenback, the Philippine government told the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This was what the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement lauding the ADB for its “full support” for the administration’s infrastructure ramp-up projects, as demonstrated by the multilateral institution’s public infrastructure loan program to the country.

On Monday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III expressed his gratitude to ADB President Takehiko Nakao for “exploring ways of forging closer coordination with the World Bank to better respond to the needs of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.”

According to Dominguez, the government is “accomplishing a lot” because of the ADB’s support, noting the lender’s assistance for the Malolos-Clark Railway

Project and the secondary education support program.

“It is proof that the institution is very supportive of our growth.”

The ADB financed the construction of a 53.1-kilometer passenger railway connecting Malolos, Bulacan, to the Clark International Airport in Pampanga at $2.75 billion. This is the multilateral institution’s single largest infrastructure investment ever here or in any other country.

In July, Dominguez and ADB Vice President Ahmed Saeed signed a $1.3-billion loan agreement representing the first tranche of the Bank’s loan for the MalolosClark Railway Project.

Dominguez, who sits as governor for the Philippines in both the ADB and the World Bank, also proposed that the two lenders “build on each other’s complementarities” to improve and more cohesively deliver development assistance to countries in the region.

The DOF said Dominguez also welcomed the ADB’s positive response to his proposal, and expressed interest in joining the first meeting of the Thematic Group.

“This could prove beneficial for the Philippines’s ongoing efforts to digitalize, among others, the government’s frontline services, tax collection and payment systems, as well as in tapping agricultural technology to rev up the farm and fisheries sector,” the DOF said in a statement.

Dominguez said his proposal will help reduce overhead costs not only for both institutions but also for countries seeking development assistance, in terms of lowering their operational expenses and borrowing rates.

The World Bank president also expressed positive notes about the coordination, saying it is necessary to avoid one institution absorbing high front-end costs for a particular project and another institution offering a lower financing package and ending up getting the credit.