The Department of Finance has secured a total of $17.06 billion in affordable financing from external sources in 2020 for key infrastructure projects and other priority programs, and for helping bridge the wider fiscal deficit incurred last year because of the huge state spending on COVID-19 response measures.
Spearheaded by its International Finance Group, the DOF obtained $7.73 billion or 45.3 percent from multilateral lenders, $2.86 billion (16.7 percent) from the Philippines’ bilateral partners, and $6.47 billion (37.9 percent) from the commercial markets.
The provision last year of program loans from the Philippines’ bilateral and multilateral partners is “a testament to the timely delivery of our key sectoral reforms,” said Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Joven in his report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.
“Out of the total external financing contracted in 2020, around $15.44 billion is for the emergency requirements for our COVID-19 response, while the remaining $1.62 billion is for other initiatives including ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure projects,” said Joven, who heads the DOF-IFG.