Japan commits $250 million to RP

MANILA, Philippines - Japan has pledged a loan of $250 million for the Philippines, Ambassador Makoto Katsura announced yesterday.

The announcement was made during a public-private sector dialogue on post-disaster assistance held at the InterContinental Hotel in Makati City and attended by President Arroyo and representatives from various development partners and agencies.

The yen loan package is composed of $100 million for the Development Policy Support Program III (DPSP III) and $150 million for emergency budget support. 

In the wake of tropical Storm Ondoy, Japan extended its emergency humanitarian assistance including emergency relief items through JICA, a substantial amount of food aid amounting to $4.5 million through the World Food Program, as well as assistance in relief activities of a number of NGOs.

The ambassador said Japan will continue its support through the maximum use of existing and new resources.

“We understand recovery efforts at an early stage need quick disbursement of a substantial amount of finance. In this light, I am pleased to announce today that the government of Japan hereby pledges a yen loan package amounting to $250 million equivalent,” Katsura said in a speech.

He said a JICA fact-finding mission is scheduled to arrive today in Manila in response to the results of the post-disaster needs assessment conducted by the World Bank.

Katsura also mentioned a number of other Japanese assistance projects to the Philippines which are relevant to the recovery and reconstruction process. 

He said other yen loan projects were concluded recently which will make available to the Development Bank of the Philippines as well as the Land Bank of the Philippines a combined 45 billion yen equivalent of approximately $518 million for developing logistics infrastructure and assisting agriculture credits.  The loan agreements were signed last week.