THE Philippines are considering borrow $ 23.71 billion (1.14 trillion pesos) from foreign lenders this year to plug its skyrocketingFicited in the midst of the pandemic, a Finance ofFicial said over the weekend.

“We plan to obtain a total of 7.67 billion dollars (369 billion pesos) in loans and grants from multilateral institutions, 10.54 billion dollars (507 billion pesos) from our bilateral partners; and raise $ 5.5 billion (P264 billion) in commercial markets this year, ”Under Secretary of Finance Mark Dennis YC Joven said in a statement over the weekend.

About 66% or $ 15.65 billion of the loans will be in the form of project finance, while 34% or $ 8.06 billion will support the national budget.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has put in place a $ 3.568 billion (172 billion pesos) loan program for the Philippines this year. Half of the amount or $ 1.75 billion (84 billion pesos) will go to the first phase of the southern suburban railway project and the rest to other infrastructure projects.

The World Bank is also planning to grant $ 1.588 billion (76 billion pesos) in loans to the Philippines this year, after lending $ 1.87 billion (90 billion pesos) in 2020.

The government has asked the World Bank for a loan of 500 million dollars to finance its mass vaccination campaign against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), while the AfDB has pledged to lend at least 350 million dollars.

This year, the government plans to raise 3 trillion PPPs from domestic and external lenders to help finance the budget ofFicit which is expected to reach 8.9% of gross domestic product.

“The government has consistently used debt for budget support, recognizing that program loans and global bonds offer more flexibility in terms of use, ”said Joven, who heads the International Finance Group (IFG) of the Ministry of Finance.

In 2020, the government obtained $ 17.06 billion (820 billion pesos) in loans from external sources, of which $ 7.73 billion (372 billion pesos) came from multilateral lenders.

“Due to a higher emergency funding need in light of COVID-19, the amount of external funding contracted in 2020 increased by 75.43% year on year. It also represents a 33% overall expansion of the external borrowing program from 2016 to 2020, ”Joven said in the statement.

Foreign loans of $ 17.06 billion last year consisted of 85% or $ 14.52 billion of budget support and the remainder worth $ 2.54 billion consisted of project loans intended to cover the financing needs of multi-year projects deployed in 2020.

About 90% or $ 15.44 billion (P 742 billion) was used for the pandemic response, while $ 1.62 billion (P 78 billion) was spent on infrastructure projects. – Beatrice M. Laforga