Official development assistance loans to the Philippines reached $9.79 billion as of the end of the first semester this year, the National Economic and Development Authority said Tuesday.
“The official development assistance loans’ financial performance for the second quarter of 2015 continues to indicate favorable management of resources,” Neda said.
Total ODA loans approved as of end-June this year consisted of 11 program loans worth $3.63 billion and 53 project loans amounting to $6.16 billion.
The Neda monitoring and evaluation staff said except for the disbursement rate, absorptive capacity indicators like the disbursement level, availment rate and disbursement ratio improved in the second quarter of 2015 from the same period last year.
The disbursement level increased to $1.51 billion in the second quarter of 2015 from $1.09 billion year-on-year.
Neda said the disbursement from World Bank loans more than tripled to $789.80 million from the $204.26 million on year. The disbursement level is the amount of actual ODA loan drawdowns during the year, as registered with the development partners.
The availment rate increased from 80 percent in second quarter of 2014 to 84 percent in the same period this year. Availment rate is the cumulative actual disbursements as a percentage of cumulative scheduled release, both reckoned from the start of implementation up to the reporting period.
The disbursement ratio also improved to 22 percent this year from 15 percent in the comparable period of last year. More than half or 53 percent of the available loan balance was disbursed as of second quarter of the year. The disbursement ratio refers to the proportion of actual loan drawdowns for the year against the available loan balance at the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, the disbursement rate, though still above the 70 percent threshold, decreased to 89 percent in the second quarter this year from 107 percent in 2014. The disbursement rate is the amount of actual disbursements made during the year as of the reporting period, as a percentage of target disbursements for the same period.
In terms of ODA loan sources, the World Bank was the biggest in the second quarter of 2015, with a 35-percent share amounting to $3.44 billion. The Japan International Cooperation Agency was in second with $3.13 billion (32 percent), followed by the Asian Development Bank with $2.58 billion (26 percent).
Total assistance from the WB, JICA, and ADB comprised 94 percent or $9.16 billion of the loan portfolio.