ODA utilization improves in 2017

MANILA, Philippines — The government’s capability to implement foreign-assisted projects improved in 2017 as shown by the progress in all indicators, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) reported yesterday.

The agency’s 2017 Official Development Assistance (ODA) Portfolio Review Report showed that all indicators of the government’s absorptive capacity for ODA loans — disbursement level, disbursement rate, availment rate and disbursement ratio — registered improvements in 2017 from 2016.

ODA loans disbursement level, the amount of actual drawdowns from loan proceeds, rose 11.5 percent in 2017 to $1.4 billion from $1.25 billion in 2016.

Disbursement rate, the actual disbursement level as a percentage of target disbursement for the period, was registered at 67.21 percent in 2017, an improvement from 61.12 percent the previous year.

The availment rate, the total actual spending as a percentage of the scheduled spending from the start of project implementation up to reporting period, rose to 71.5 percent in 2017, faster by six percent from the previous year.

The disbursement ratio — the ratio of actual disbursements for the year to the loan balance available at the beginning of the year, inclusive of newly effective loans — increased to 16.66 percent, an increase of 29 percent from the previous year.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Ernesto Pernia attributed the improvement to better technical capacities of implementing agencies.

“This means implementing agencies are improving their technical capacities and making headway in resolving key issues that cause delays in the execution of programs and projects,” Pernia said.

NEDA said the country’s total outstanding ODA portfolio for the full year of 2017 reached $14.72 billion, comprising 352 grants amounting to $2.42 billion and 70 loans amounting to $12.3 billion.

Out of the total, the infrastructure sector has the largest allocation amounting $6.62 billion or 45 percent of the total amount, followed by social reform and community development for which 26.11 percent of the total has been apportioned.

Japan remained the top provider of ODA to the Philippines in 2017 with loans and grants placed at $5.33 billion, accounting for 36.18 percent of the country’s total ODA portfolio.

It was followed by the World Bank with $3.07 billion (20.88 percent) and the Asian Development Bank with $2.97 billion (20.16 percent).

Out of the total 407 projects and programs assisted by ODA loans and grants, 271 projects were proceeding as scheduled while 79 were completed. Fifty-two projects, on the other hand, were behind schedule in implementation while five were closed with incomplete outputs.

“We are grateful for all the foreign assistance in the form of grants and loans that we received from our development partners last year. The government’s constant role is to make the most out of these to bring positive impact to the people’s lives and realize our collective development goals as a nation,” Pernia said.