The facade of the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines. (Photo from ADB.org)
MANILA, Philippines — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will grant the Philippines up to US $4 billion to support the country’s socio-economic agenda and other infrastructure development programs of the government for this year alone, Malacañang said Tuesday.
According to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), this was what ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa told President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. during their meeting at the ADB headquarters on Monday.
“This 2023 alone, we expect to provide up to US$4 billion to support the government’s Socio-Economic Agenda and the Build Better More infrastructure development program,” Asakawa said, as quoted by the PCO.
“This includes preparation of several transformative projects such as the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge Project, the Davao Public Transport Modernization Project, and the Integrated Floor Resilience and Adaptation Project,” he added.
Asakawa said ADB has increased its financing to the Philippines by fourfold reaching a total of US $12.7 billion between 2018 and 2022.
Because of the Philippines’ vulnerability to the impacts of climate change due to its exposure to severe weather events, Asakawa said the ADB is fully committed to helping the Philippines address climate change, saying “it will be a core priority of our assistance going forward.”
During the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020, Asakawa said he had the privilege of distributing food packages procured under the Bayanihan project to over 260,000 vulnerable families in Metro Manila.
He also expressed gratitude to the Philippines for being a good host to the ADB’s annual meeting in September last year, where the financial institution announced its US $14 billion assistance package from 2022 to 2025 to help developing member countries address food security issues.
Asakawa said 70% of the ADB’s staff in its headquarters are Filipinos.
The PCO said the ADB was the Philippines’ top source of active Official Development Assistance (ODA) among 20 development partners in 2022, accounting for 34% (US $10.74 billion for 31 loans and 28 grants) of the US $31.95 billion of the total active ODA.
From 2010 to 2022, ADB’s annual loan financing for the Philippines averaged US $1.4 billion.
The PCO said three loans amounting to US $1.10 billion have been signed with ADB within the first nine months of the Marcos administration.