The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) top official has expressed full support for the Philippines’ development agenda, citing the government’s plan to reduce poverty, create high quality jobs, massive infrastructure program, and peace and development initiatives in the Bangsamoro region.
The ADB said in a statement Masatsugu Asakawa, the multilateral agency’s president, had his first courtesy visit to President Duterte at the Department of Finance (DOF) office in Manila last Monday evening.
At the dinner hosted by the Philippine government after the courtesy visit, Asakawa congratulated the government for its success in bringing down the national poverty rate to 16.6 percent in 2018 from 23.3 percent in 2015.
“ADB’s partnership with our host country, the Philippines, has never been stronger,” Asakawa said.
“ADB is committed to supporting the government’s effort to reduce poverty and create high quality jobs for Filipinos by building a competitive economy and caring society,” he added.
Asakawa also met with Carlos Dominguez, DOF secretary and ADB governor, and reiterated ADB’s full support for the country’s growth and development goals, including the Build, Build, Build infrastructure development program, and the peace and economic development initiative in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The ADB said they also discussed ways to improve cooperation between multilateral development institutions, particularly ADB and the World Bank. Asakawa noted that it will be one of his key priorities.
Asakawa assumed office as the 10th president of the ADB last January 17.
ADB lending to the Philippines is planned to reach a record high of $3.3 billion this year, with about half supporting the government’s infrastructure program.
This will likely include priority projects such as the South Commuter Railway, the EDSA Greenways Pedestrian Walkways, and the Angat Water Transmission Aqueduct 7, as well as initiatives to boost social protection, sustainable tourism, and capital market development.
Last year, ADB’s sovereign lending to the Philippines totaled $2.5 billion, up from $1.4 billion in 2018.
The $2.75 billion Malolos-Clark Railway Project, one of the government’s major infrastructure investments, is ADB’s largest project financing in the Asia and Pacific region to date. Construction work is expected to begin by the middle of this year.
Meanwhile, Dominguez was asked by reporters via Viber if plans for this year’s ADB annual meeting have been discussed.
The international event, scheduled in May, is set in Incheon, South Korea. However according to recent reports, the country has the biggest number of COVID-19 cases outside of China.
“We touched on the subject but concluded that the ADB will continue to monitor developments before making any announcements,” Dominguez told reporters yesterday.
“We’ll check how international meetings were handled during the SARS contagion,” he said, adding that an Asean finance ministers meeting is scheduled in April in Vietnam.
