Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said over the weekend the Philippines will make its first contribution to the Asian Development Bank grant fund as the country is expected this year to rise to an upper-middle-income status ahead of schedule,
The fund is intended for the most vulnerable and least developed member-countries of the Manila-based multilateral institution.
Dominguez said the Philippines would announce its contribution to the Asian Development Fund during a pledging session to be held at the sidelines of the ADB’s 53rd Annual Meeting set in May this year in Incheon, South Korea.
He said contributing to the fund would prove beneficial to the Philippines and the rest of the Asia-Pacific, given that the growth of least-developed countries would provide the Philippines and the rest of the region with new potential markets to further bolster domestic economic expansion as well as regional growth.
Dominguez said Manila’s contribution to the ADF conveyed goodwill to the region’s LDCs, whose economic and social development would also have an external benefit to the Philippines in terms of strengthening regional health security.