Philippine development aid loans hit $8.8B in Q3 2012

THE total net commitment from official development assistance (ODA) rose in the third quarter of 2012 to $8.83 billion, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said Friday.

The July to September ODA was a $318.31-million higher from the second quarter of last year, said Neda-Project Monitoring Staff (PMS) Director Roderick M. Planta.

“The increase in total net commitment was due to one newly-signed loan, one newly-effective loan recorded during the quarter, and adjustments reflecting exchange rate fluctuations,” he said.

The newly signed loan as of September 2012 is the Jalaur River Multipurpose Irrigation Project-Phase II, which has a net commitment of $207.88 million. The project’s lead proponent is the National Irrigation Administration

The Flood Risk Management Project along Selected Principal Rivers 2 is the additional newly-effective loan reported in September with an amount of $95.83 million. The project’s lead proponent is the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Meanwhile, adjustments in loan net commitments to reflect exchange rate fluctuations amounted $14.60 million.

Compared to the amount as of September in 2011, Planta said that the total ODA net commitment as of September this year also grew by $410.74 million.

Total ODA net commitment as of September 2012 consisted of 74 loans, of which 67 are project loans worth $7.69 billion and seven are program loans worth $1.14 billion.

From these loans, $496.58 million were already disbursed as of the same period. However, this was lower than the total disbursed amount of $942.98 million as of September 2011.

“During the third quarter of 2011, three single-tranche program loans registered full disbursements, while in the third quarter of 2012 a newly-effective program loan with a net commitment of $350 million is yet to disburse funds,” the NEDA official explained.

Planta also noted that the disbursement rate, or the loan amount’s level of disbursement against the annual target, declined to 45.45 percent from 74.07 percent during the same reference periods.

The loan’s total availment rate, or the percentage of loan amount’s cumulative utilization according to a multiyear schedule, also slightly declined to 61.86 percent as of September 2012 from 73.1 percent as of September 2011.

Also, the loans’ total disbursement ratio, or the percentage of actual disbursements against available net loan amount, decreased to 9.73 percent from 18.80 percent during the same reference periods.

“We already expected that the loans’ absorptive capacity indicators would decline as of the third quarter of 2012. This was generally due to the inclusion in the portfolio of at least nine recently effective and two recently signed loans. Minimal disbursements are usually registered during the loans’ start-up year,” said Planta.

Loans from the Government of Japan-Japan International Cooperation Agency (GOJ-Jica) had the highest share of total ODA commitments as of September 2012, with 36.7 percent ($3.24 billion).

GOJ-Jica was followed by other development partners (i.e., Austria, France, Germany, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Korea, Netherlands, OPEC Fund for International Development, Saudi Arabia, and Spain) with 20.89 percent ($1.84 billion).

The World Bank recorded the third highest share with 17.71 percent ($1.56 billion), followed by China with 12.53 percent ($1.11 billion) and the Asian Development Bank with 12.19 percent ($1.08 billion). (SDR/Sunnex)