ADB behind PH even as it graduates to ‘upper middle-income’ level

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) remains committed to financing the Philippines’ priority programs and projects even as the country moves up to upper middle-income status by next year.

“My expectation is that the ADB’s engagement with the Philippines will remain consistent as what has been in the past,” the Manila-based multilateral lender’s vice president for operations Ahmed Saeed said on Friday.

Saeed noted the ADB allowed the Philippines to borrow a record-high $2.5 billion this year. It had also scaled up its lending pipeline to $10 billion in the medium term.

“Our intention is to continue to play the role that we have for some time, which is to be both the source of capital and also the source of expertise,” especially in infrastructure development, Saeed said.

But with the Philippines poised to become an upper middle-income country—defined by the World Bank as having per capita income above $3,956—in 2020, the country would eventually lose access to preferential interest rates it has been enjoying whenever it borrowed from its bilateral partners and multilateral institutions. INQ