PCC secures $23.3-M loan from ADB

Antitrust watchdog Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has secured a $23.3-million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to strengthen the commission’s institutional capacity.

In a press conference at the ADB Headquarters in Pasig City, PCC Chairman Arsenio Balisacan said the ADB loan will be spent on the PCC’s “Capacity Building to Foster Competition Project.”

“The PCC recognizes that its success as a young agency rests in its ability to strengthen the skills and competencies of its staff, work inter-operably across its network of competition champions and enforcers, and vigorously engage the public and private sectors in competition advocacy,” he said.

The money will allow PCC to tap local and international expertise to train and advice the commission on strengthening its abilities in competition enforcement, research, and advocacy.

Mandated to promote fair market competition, the PCC was established in 2016 under the Philippine Competition Act.

“The Capacity Building to Foster Competition Project aims to establish lasting foundations on which the Philippine government may build in the years to come,” Balisacan noted.

“It is the PCC’s vision to one day become a world-class competition authority, guided by the models set by other jurisdictions. This project can bring us closer to that vision and to achieving our mission.”

The 28-year loan carries a grace period of nine years and an annual interest rate based on the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR), said ADB Principal Country Specialist for the Philippines Cristina Lozano.

“This innovative project will help strengthen the Philippine government’s institutional and individual capacities to effectively implement the competition law in order to expand consumers’ access to goods and services at lower prices, and help businesses improve product quality through innovation,” she said. —VDS, GMA News