$500M loan for 4Ps signed

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The Philippines and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a $500 million loan accord to support beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement yesterday the budget-support loan under the Expanded Social Assistance Project (ESAP) is part of the Philippine government’s external financing program for 2020.

The ESAP aims to assist the government in the continued implementation of its conditional cash transfer initiative or the 4Ps.

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The $500- million loan aims to continue funding education and health grants to eligible 4Ps household-beneficiaries for a period of four years starting 2020, the DOF said.

Carlos Dominguez, DOF secretary, and Kelly Bird, ADB country director for the Philippines, signed the loan agreement last June 15.

“This budget-support loan will not only help bridge our funding gap for our COVID-19 response but will also strengthen our social protection program as we restart our economy and help people get back on their feet amid the pandemic,” Dominguez said.

In approving the ESAP loan, Ahmed Saeed, ADB vice president, said: “The 4Ps program provides vulnerable households with an income supplement to help their children become educated, stay healthy, and leave poverty for good. Our evidence shows that this is working. The 4Ps program has helped 1.5 million people escape poverty since it began in 2008. Through this project loan and technical assistance support, ADB is helping the Philippines expand these gains.”

ADB s’will also provide a $3.1-million technical assistance grant to help improve the family and youth development sessions, update the list of eligible poor households, provide a package of livelihood and other support to help up to 3,000 households graduate out of poverty, support information technology reforms to automate compliance verification and grievance redress, and prepare for the integration of the 4Ps database with the government’s national ID system.

The ESAP loan, which covers a maturity period of 29 years inclusive of an eight-year grace period, brings to $2.6 billion the total financing package extended by the ADB so far to the Philippines for its programs to address the COVID-19 crisis.

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