PH, ADB sign P31.53-B loan deals
Credit to Author: Mayvelin U. Caraballo, TMT| Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2019 17:42:45 +0000
THE government has secured $623.3 million (P31.53 billion) in loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for its infrastructure, youth and competition programs.
In a ceremony in Manila on Friday, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd and ADB Vice President Ahmed Saeed signed agreements on the $400-million Facilitating Youth School-to-Work Transition Program Subprogram 2, the $200 million in additional financing for the ongoing Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility (IPIF), and the $23.3-million Capacity Building to Foster Competition Project.
The first program, Dominguez said, would strengthen the country’s “ability to carry out policy reforms and government initiatives aimed at improving the employability of our talented young workforce.”
The additional funds for the IPIF will support the preparation of several transformative projects, according to the ADB. These include the detailed engineering design of the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge Project and the Metro Rail Transit Line 4 connecting Ortigas to Rizal province’s Taytay town.
The third program, Dominguez said, “will help the Philippine government in the implementation of the Philippine Competition Act, particularly in improving the government’s capacity to enforce the competition law, thereby promoting free and fair competition in various economic activities and industries.”
The loans are part of the $10.3 billion in financing support that the Manila-based multilateral lender has committed to provide the Philippines over the medium term.