President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed two Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan packages worth 456 million dollars that creates 53,000 new jobs during her visit to Japan on June 17-20.
In a media interview at the Imperial Hotel here, Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Margarito Teves said the new soft loan packages would be sourced from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) as conduits.
Teves said the yen loan packages are the 148-million dollars (Y14.6 billion) Agricultural Credit Support Project (ACSP) to be executed by LandBank, and the 308-million dollars (Y30.38 billion) Logistics Infrastructure Development Project (LIDP) to be executed by DBP.
The two ODA loans to be implemented from 2009-2014 have a maturity of 30 years, inclusive of a 10-year grace period at 1.4 percent interest per annum.
DOF Undersecretary for International Finance Rosalia de Leon said that the said loan agreements were signed on June 18 between Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and his counterpart Japan Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone after the President’s bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso at the Kantei (Prime Minister’s Office) here.
De Leon said the Agricultural Credit Support Project (ACSP) would make available short, medium and long-term funds to address the credit needs of key agribusiness players.
In its first five years of implementation, ACSP is expected to benefit 43,000 farmers and fishers, 220 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and 30 large agribusinesses.
De Leon said ACSP would also help finance some 43,250 sub-projects and create about 53,230 new jobs.
On the other hand, the Logistics Infrastructure Development Project (LIDP) is an investment financing facility that can be accessed by private corporations, government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and local government units (LGUs) to finance infrastructure and support systems for the Strong Republic Nautical Highway, particularly access/toll roads, bulk grains highway, and cold chain highway.
Teves said the soft loan packages come from the multi-billion-dollar facility Japan has committed to help developing countries in Asia cope with the effects of the global financial crisis.
On top of the JICA loan, Teves added, the government will secure a 500-million dollars additional ODA from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help bridge the government’s budget deficit this year. (PIA Bohol)
