The government’s disbursement of official development assistance loans increased 11.5 percent in 2017 to $1.40 billion from $1.25 billion in 2016, Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said Thursday.
Data showed that the disbursement rate, or the actual disbursement level as a percentage of target disbursement for the period, was at 67.21 percent, an increase from the previous year’s 61.12 percent. The disbursement level of ODA loans refers to the amount of actual drawdown from loan proceeds.
He said the “availment rate increased by 6 percent to 71.50 percent.”
“This is the cumulative actual disbursements as a percentage of cumulative scheduled disbursement, both reckoned from the start of implementation up to the reporting period,” said Pernia.
The disbursement ratio”•or the ratio of actual disbursements for a given year to the loan balance available at the beginning of that year inclusive of newly effective loans”•increased to 16.66 percent, an increase of 29 percent from the previous year.
“This means implementing agencies are improving their technical capacities and making headway in resolving key issues that cause delays in the execution of programs and projects,” Pernia said.
The Philippines’ total outstanding ODA portfolio reached $14.72 billion as of end-2017, constituting 352 grants amounting to $2.42 billion and 70 loans amounting to $12.30 billion.