Gov’t eyes transforming DBP into infrastructure bank

The government is now eyeing the possibility of transforming state-run Development Bank of the Philippines into an infrastructure bank in efforts to ease the implementation of the administration's ambitious infrastructure spending program.

"We want to improve the DBP. Our plan is to make it the Philippines' infrastructure bank," Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III was quoted as saying in a statement by the Department of Finance.

According to the DOF, Dominguez made the remark at a meeting with Daiwa Securities Group Inc. President and CEO Seiji Nakata in Yokohama, Japan.

"The DBP, in my view, lost its way for a few years so we want to redirect it like the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ Inc.)," Dominguez added. 

Currently, the DBP supports the government's infrastructure program through assistance in the public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

It's priority lending areas include infrastructure and logistics, social services, and environmental projects.

Meanwhile, the DBJ is said to be the pioneer energy and infrastructure project financier in Japan.

Under its "build, build, build" thrust, the present administration plans to spend over P8 trillion to finance the so-called "golden age of infrastructure" over the next six years, with P860.7 billion allocated for big-ticket projects this year alone.

Aside from the DBP, the Philippines may also secure infrastructure funding from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), of which it is a member.

Earlier, the government said that the EDSA Bus Rapid Transit and the Metro Manila flood control will be two priority projects that will be presented before the AIIB for possible funding. —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/LBG, GMA News