The Philippines and Japan signed an agreement for the Post Disaster Stand-by Loan Phase 3 amounting to 30 billion yen to support the former’s swift recovery from natural disasters.
The Department of Finance said in a statement Tuesday the agreement signing took place Monday following the 14th Philippines-Japan High-Level Joint Committee Meeting on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation held in Tokyo.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno led the Philippine delegation which also consisted of agency heads and officials from the National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, Department of Information and Communications Technology and Bases Conversion and Development Authority.
The DOF said earlier the Philippines might incur as much as P1.5 trillion in losses from natural disasters in the next five decades over the worsening impact of climate change. It said the Philippines has a 40-percent chance of incurring losses beyond P989 billion and a 20-percent chance of experiencing a loss of as much as P1.5 trillion in the next 50 years.
The Japanese loan seeks to support swift recovery after natural disasters by promoting policy actions on disaster risk reduction and management and strengthening disaster preparedness by providing quick-disbursing budget support.
The Japanese government also expressed support for the Philippines’ goal of attaining an upper middle-income country status by 2025.
“We are grateful for Prime Minister [Fumio] Kishida’s commitment to support the Philippines’ pursuit of the upper middle-income country status through impactful ODA and private-sector investments,” Diokno said.
Both countries discussed available financing options once the Philippines enters the upper middle-income country status by 2025. These include new frameworks such as the “private capital mobilization-type” grant that attracts investment and the “offer-type” that proposes a menu of cooperation that takes advantage of Japan’s strengths.
Japan also renewed its commitment to the development cooperation with the Philippines, building on the strong economic, political and cultural ties throughout the years.
“We hope that Japan will continue to be a strong partner through various forms of bilateral and technical cooperation for many years to come,” Diokno said.
Japan is the Philippines’ largest official development assistance provider of loan and grant commitments, amounting to around $12.92 billion, or about 40.5 percent of the country’s total ODA portfolio.
Japan International Cooperation Agency is supporting the implementationof 28 ongoing loans with the Philippines.
Diokno said the Philippines would continue to secure concessional terms and conditions through JICA’s special terms for economic partnership which increases the visibility of Japanese ODA in recipient countries through best use of advanced technologies and know-how of Japanese firms.
Diokno thanked the Japanese government for financing key railway projects amounting to about 394.4 billion yen.
Among these are the North-South Commuter Railway Project, NSCR Extension Project and the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 Rehabilitation Project.