State-run Development Bank of the Philippines expects lending for infrastructure projects to account for as high as 90 percent of its total loan portfolio in the next five years, once the bank is transformed into an infrastructure bank, the bank’s chief executive told reporters over the weekend.
“It will contribute in terms of loan portfolio…. The priority sectors of DBP capture about 80 percent of the total loan portfolio. That is how big the priority sectors are,” DBP president and chief executive Cecilia Borromeo said in an interview.
She said the bank was supporting the establishment of farm-to-market roads, highways and the social services sector such as schools, hospitals, water districts and even bulk water projects.
“So we are pretty confident that even if we grow the loan portfolio by 50 percent, the share of the infra will be at least 80 percent… and it is possible to reach 90 percent in the next five years,” she said.
“We will be more deliberate in hiring more engineers and young professionals who can understand the lingo of the layers in the various infra sectors like renewable energy, projects that support social services like hospitals and schools. We already support them but we want to do it better,” Borromeo said.