For first time, PH to contribute to ADB fund

For the first time, the Philippines this year will contribute to the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) fund that supports its least-developed members, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the Philippines would announce the amount it would contribute to the Asian Development Fund (ADF) during the ADB’s 53rd annual meeting to be held in Incheon, South Korea, in May.

The pledging session on May 2 will replenish the ADF for the 12th time since its establishment in 1974, the DOF said.

To date, the ADF’s replenishments totaled $4.01 billion, including $2.59 billion from donors, the DOF added.

“Since the Philippines’ graduation from ADF assistance in 1999, we have yet to contribute to the replenishment of the fund. Now, as we move to the upper middle-income status, the country is poised to extend help to the least-developed countries, including some of our neighbors in the Asean and the Pacific,” Dominguez said.

The Philippines expects to become an upper middle-income country—defined by the World Bank as having a per capita income above $3,956—this year.

“With the proposed Philippine contribution to the ADF, the country is expected to benefit in terms of further driving its growth from the possible development of new markets within the region,” Dominguez added, as the fund supports the ADB’s poorest and most vulnerable members such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Kyrgyz Republic, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Nepal, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.