Philippines in talks to loan $325M from ADB for COVID-19 vaccines

The Philippines has requested to loan about $325 million or P15.627 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to finance the procurement of vaccines against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

At a virtual briefing on Monday, ADB country director for the Philippines Kelly Bird said the loan falls within the $9-billion Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX) member countries can tap for loan financing, of which the Philippines can avail of $400 million to $500 million.

"At the moment the government has requested approximately $325 million from the first component of the facility -- that's the rapid response component," Bird said in a press briefing with presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr.

"ADB is working very closely and intensely with the government even over the Christmas and New Year period to carry out the technical background work and preparing the vaccine project," he said.

The Philippines has already allocated P73.2 billion for the procurement of the vaccines, with P40 billion coming from multilateral agencies, P20 billion from domestic sources, and P13.2 billion from bilateral agreements.

Bird clarified, however, that under the conditions of its APVAX facility, there will be eligibility criteria for the vaccines that may be procured — vaccine has been selected for procurement via covax on behalf of its participating countries; vaccine manufacturer is prequalified by the World Health Organization (WHO); and the vaccine is authorized by a stringent regulatory authority (SRA) for manufacture in an SRA country or the SRA has authorized its manufacture in a non-SRA country.

ADB's loans to the Philippines for the COVID-19 vaccines is not included in the $9.4-billion lending program of the ADB to the Philippines in the next three years announced last week. — RSJ, GMA News