ADB support to PH to reach record high in 2020–2022

MANILA — The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) sovereign lending for the Philippines is expected to reach US9.1 billion between 2020 and 2022, as the government seeks to invest more in much-needed infrastructure and pro-poor projects that will merge rural areas into urban growth centers.

The indicative pipeline is in line with the priorities identified in ADB’s country partnership strategy.

In the Philippines Country Operations Business Plan (COPB) 2020–2022, ADB said it will invest 59.5 percent of its three-year sovereign lending program in transportation projects, such as railways, bridges, road networks, and elevated pedestrian walkways.

The rest of its financial support will be devoted to the social sector, agriculture, public sector management, and sustainable water and urban development.

“This latest Country Operations Business Plan reflects ADB’s strong commitment to supporting the Philippines’ efforts to sustain inclusive economic growth, create business and job opportunities in the regions, and widen the reach of the government’s education, health, and social protection programs,” ADB Country Director for the Philippines Kelly Bird said in a statement.

ADB plans to finance projects and programs worth at least USD2.5 billion annually in 2020 and 2021, matching the record high of USD2.5 billion in sovereign lending to the Philippines expected by the end of the year.

In comparison, ADB’s annual lending from 2008–2018 averaged about USD800 million.

Half of ADB’s 2019 assistance program will fund the first tranche of the Malolos–Clark Railway Project, one of the government’s big-ticket infrastructure projects under its “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program.

It is also the largest ADB project financing to date, worth USD2.75 billion in total.

Contracts for civil works for the project are expected to be awarded before the end of the year and construction work may begin in the second quarter of 2020.

ADB is preparing additional financing this year for the Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility to support detailed engineering designs and feasibility studies for the government’s priority projects under the BBB program.

This will ensure a steady flow of investments into much-needed infrastructure projects that are viable and innovative.

In 2020, transportation and infrastructure will still make up the majority of ADB’s financial support to the Philippines. This includes the South Commuter Railway Project that will connect Manila to Calamba and the EDSA Greenways Project, which will construct elevated walkways in four high density traffic locations along the main EDSA highway in Metro Manila.

The Integrated Flood Risk Management Sector Project is also being prepared for 2020 to finance up to six river basins across the country, and the Metro Manila Bridges Project will construct three bridges to help ease traffic conditions in the metropolis.

ADB’s 2020 program will also include financing for the Expanded Social Assistance Project, which will build on a decade of ADB assistance to the government’s conditional cash transfer program and support for the government’s agricultural competitiveness program.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. In 2018, it made commitments of new loans and grants amounting to USD21.6 billion.

Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.