DBP lends P150 million to modern PUV maker

MANILA, Philippines — State-run Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has provided a P150 million loan to Hino Motors Philippines Corp. to support its production and distribution of modern public utility vehicles (PUVs).

In a statement, DBP president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Herbosa said the loan would augment  HMPC’s working capital requirements in the manufacture of commercial vehicles, such as PUVs, trucks and buses.

This, he said, would help HMPC address the increasing demand for modern PUVs nationwide, especially with the surge of approvals under the DBP’s Program Assistance to Support Alternative Driving Approaches (PASADA).

“As of end June 2020, DBP already approved approximately 1,800 units of modern PUVs to be produced by HMPC, which will be distributed to around 50 transport cooperatives nationwide,” Herbosa said.

HMPC is one of the pioneers in the development of prototypes for modern PUVs in line with the national government’s PUV modernization Program.

Herbosa said the DBP recognized the role of the transport sector in the economy’s recovery, as it serves mostly workers in the micro, small, and medium enterprises sector.

“With this, it is imperative for DBP to support initiatives that would not only benefit our local drivers but other small businesses as well,” Herbosa said.

Herbosa said the DBP was working closely with the Department of Transportation and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to continually expand financial interventions that would help the transport sector and other affected industries recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Currently the seventh largest bank in the country in terms of assets, DBP provides credit support to four strategic sectors of the economy, including infrastructure and logistics, micro, small and medium enterprises, social services and community development and the environment.

From January to September, the DBP released P374.85 billion in loans to various sectors, 13.91 percent up from the P329.07 billion disbursed in the same period in 2019.

About P175.72 billion of the total amount went to the infrastructure and logistics sector.  This was followed by loans to social services, which amounted to P77.23 billion; environment projects, P43.12 billion; and micro, small, and medium enterprises, P26.48 billion.

The bank’s net income ideclined by 26.69 percent to P3.24 billion in the first nine months of 2020, owing to higher provisions for potential credit losses due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The DBP also reported an increase in administrative expenses, which went mostly for the pandemic response of DBP’s field units.