2014 ODA disbursements exceed $1 billion in 2014

The government spent loans and grants obtained through official development assistance (ODA) more efficiently last year, allowing disbursements to more than double year-on-year and exceed the $1-billion level, the National Economic and Development and Authority (Neda) said.

“The overall disbursement level, or the amount of ODA fund allotment that were actually used for ODA-funded projects and programs, increased to $1.77 billion in 2014 from $856 million in 2013,” Neda said on Wednesday, citing data from the 2014 ODA Portfolio Review Report.

“The report showed that indicators of government’s absorptive capacity for ODA loans—disbursement level, disbursement rate, availment rate and disbursement ratio—showed improved performance in year 2014 as compared to the previous year,” Neda said.

Neda attributed last year’s higher disbursements to “greater government efficiency in resource and program management.”

The bulk of disbursements from ODA last year came from program loans, which amounted to $1.28 billion or 73 percent of the total.

The disbursement rate—defined by Neda as “actual disbursement as a percentage of target disbursement for the period”—also jumped to 76 percent last year from 60 percent in 2013. “Drawdowns of program loans accounted for more than half of the disbursements,” Neda said.

As for the availment rate, or the “cumulative actual disbursements as a percentage of cumulative scheduled disbursement, both reckoned from the start of implementation up to the reporting period,” it rose to 83 percent as of end-2014 from 76 percent at end-2013, Neda said.

However, the grants’ financial performance slid slightly to 50 percent last year from 52 percent in 2013. The report showed $1.6 billion had been disbursed out of the active grants amounting to $3.19 billion.

By the end of 2014, the report also showed the Philippines’ ODA portfolio was comprised of 76 loans and 449 grants worth a total of $14.37 billion.

Multilateral lender World Bank contributed the biggest amount, with $4.54 billion or 32 percent of the country’s ODA portfolio.

The end-2014 ODA from the Japanese government stood at $3.33 billion; $2.35 billion came from Manila-based Asian Development Bank; and $1.15 billion came from the US government.

In terms of grant assistance, the top three sources last year were the US ($1.15 billion), the United Nations ($608.48 million), and Australia ($587.02 million).

On a per sector basis, the largest recipient of ODA loans was infrastructure development with a 39-percent share equivalent to $4.32 billion across 34 loans. Social reform and community development programs and projects received $2.68 billion via 11 separate loans, while governance and institution development initiatives got $2.46 billion via eight loans.

As for ODA grants, the sectors that were granted the most amounts were social reform and community development ($1.19 billion for 151 grants), agriculture, agrarian reform and natural resources ($793.71 million for 90 grants), and governance and institution development ($583.04 million for 141 grants).