PHL’s ODA disbursements pick up in 2017 — NEDA

The Philippine government's capability to implement foreign-assisted projects showed improvement in 2017, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said Thursday.

According to NEDA’s 2017 Official Development Assistance (ODA) Portfolio Review Report, all indicators of the government’s absorptive capacity for ODA loans— disbursement level, disbursement rate, availment rate and disbursement ratio – showed improvement in 2017 as compared to 2016.

The report said the disbursement level of ODA loans or the amount of actual draw-downs from loan proceeds stood at $1.40 billion in 2017, up 11.5 percent from $1.25 billion in 2016.

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 NEDA said.

The availment rate increased by 6 percentage points 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," the NEDA said.

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 percentage points 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," Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said.

The Philippines’ total outstanding ODA portfolio for the full year of 2017 reached $14.72 billion, constituting 352 grants amounting to $2.42 billion and 70 loans amounting to $12.30 billion, according to the NEDA report.

The infrastructure sector continued to receive the largest share of the total ODA at $6.62 billion, accounting for 45 percent of the total amount, followed by social reform and community development at 26.11 percent.

Japan remained the top provider of ODA to the Philippines in 2017 with loans and grants at $5.33 billion, accounting for 36.18 percent of the country's total ODA portfolio.

It was followed by the World Bank with $3.07 billion (20.88 percent) and the Asian Development Bank with $2.97 billion (20.16 percent).

Of the total 407 projects and programs assisted by ODA loans and grants, 271 projects or 66.58 percent were on schedule while 79 or 19.41 percent were completed.

Fifty-two projects or 13 percent, on the other hand, were behind schedule while five 1 percent were closed with incomplete outputs.

"We are grateful for all the foreign assistance in the form of grants and loans that we received from our development partners last year. The government’s constant role is to make the most out of these to bring positive impact to the people’s lives and realize our collective development goals as a nation," Pernia said. — RSJ, GMA News