$200-M ADB loan to bankroll PHL financial policy reforms – BSP

With the approval of a $200-million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Philippine government can bankroll its continuing policy reforms and programs in the financial sector, said the central bank chief Wednesday. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the originally crafted loan was for $300 million — an amount that was later downsized due to the state of ADB’s ordinary capital resources when the government first drew the loan terms. Tetangco said the ADB loan support was structured to be paid within 15 years, which includes a three-year grace period. 2010 financial assistance The ADB has meanwhile reported that the financial assistance it approved in 2010 reached $17.51 billion, according to its 2010 Annual Report released in the run up to the bank’s 44th annual meeting next month in Hanoi, Vietnam. The report said that of the $17.51 billion, the bank devoted $15.50 billion to investment support, $1.68 billion to policy-based support, and $327 million to technical assistance. ADB also reported that $2.77 billion in trade gained support from its ongoing Trade Finance Program. ADB president Haruhiko Kuro said in the report, “As the region moves beyond economic recovery to sustained growth, it must ensure that the evolving growth paradigm becomes more inclusive to benefit as many people as possible." In recent years, 14 of 20 developing Asian economies saw their Gini coefficient — a measure of inequality — increase as economic growth accelerated, according to an ADB study. In a statement, the ADB quoted the report as saying the region “must rebalance growth to reduce reliance on external markets." The bank added, “Developing Asia must promote public-private partnerships to meet infrastructure needs and to ensure development is inclusive and environmentally sustainable." Last week, an official of the Philippines’ newly-created PPP Center confirmed the bidding within the first half of the year for the first project under the private-public partnership (PPP) initiative for infrastructure. “We are on track," PPP Center deputy executive director Cosette Canilao said. — VS, GMA News