PH gets 250-M euro loans from French agency

The Philippines has secured 250 million euros (about P14 billion) in fresh financing via two loans from France’s aid agency to help in economic recovery beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an email to the Inquirer last week, country director Laurent Klein of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) said their agency last June 9 signed with the Department of Finance (DOF) a 100-million euro loan aimed at expanding financial services to vulnerable populations under the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) inclusive finance development program.

Also on June 9, the AFD and the DOF signed the agreement on the 150-million euro loan aimed at increasing private sector participation in infrastructure finance under the ADB’s expanding private participation in infrastructure program, Klein added.

Last year, the AFD committed to co-finance these two programs rolled out by the Manila-based ADB in 2018, Klein explained.

While the two programs were not directly intended for COVID-19 response, Klein said these would help in the government’s economic recovery efforts. —Ben O. de Vera INQ