The Department of Finance (DOF) said Thursday it is set to execute around $1.5 billion-worth of pipeline projects with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for 2024-2025.
It said it is also working towards executing four major loan agreements within the year.
DOF Undersecretary for the International Finance Group (IFG) Joven Balbosa and JICA director-general of Southeast-Asia and Pacific Department Hayakawa Yuho discussed the loan agreement on April 18, 2024 at the JICA Office in Washington D.C.
Balbosa reaffirmed the strong partnership between the Philippine government and JICA, acknowledging Japan as the country’s largest official development assistance (ODA) partner with $12.30 billion net commitments (loans and grants) or 32.82 percent share of total ODA as of December 2023.
The DOF and JICA particularly discussed executing a pipelined commitment of around JPY 227.6 billion ($1.5 billion) from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025 and the annual average pipeline of about JPY 249.2 billion (roughly $1.6 billion) over the next five years from 2023 to 2027.
They also tackled the timeline and preparations required to facilitate the signing of the loan agreements for projects on maritime safety, roads and flood risk management, which are targeted before the end of the year.
Aside from the usual portfolio of infrastructure projects funded by JICA, the agency said that it is expanding into other sectors in line with the Marcos administration’s development objectives such as agriculture, education and health.
JICA also expressed its openness to scale up its policy-based lending, with an intent to co-finance the Climate Change Action Program (CCAP), Subprogram 2 with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
The CCAP will support the Philippines in implementing its national climate policies, including its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The program will intensify efforts to transform key sectors toward a climate-resilient and low-carbon economy.
Both parties also engaged in an in-depth discussion on project implementation issues, to which they committed to maintaining open dialogue and addressing any delay to improve overall project management and minimize costs to the government.