Standard Chartered Bank of the UK offered to provide financial and technical assistance to implement the proposed railway system in Mindanao under the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.
Standard Chartered officials, in a recent meeting with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, offered the bank’s services in facilitating the conversion of the Development Bank of the Philippines into the country’s infrastructure bank.
Dominguez and Standard Chartered officials also discussed the Philippines’ plan to sell Chinese renminbi-denominated Panda bonds this year, the Duterte administration’s proposed Comprehensive Tax Reform Program and national ID system, the rehabilitation of the Agus hydropower plants in Mindanao, and the possibility of offering green bonds and project bonds to help finance the country’s infra buildup.
“There are five projects approved by the National Economic and Development Authority, and the largest is the railway in Mindanao. We want to see how we can help there. We also want to clarify how we can help closely DBP as an infra bank—putting up an infra fund, or providing advisory [services],” Lynette Ortiz, chief executive and country head of the bank’s global banking division for the Philippines, said during the meeting.
