The Duterte administration is “open to discussions” on the Asian Development Bank (ADB)”s fresh offer of greater financial assistance to the Philippines in a show of strong support to its new government, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said over the weekend.
Dominguez issued this statement after ADB president Takehiko Nakao relayed the bank’s “strong support” to the government of President Duterte in a July 8 meeting with the finance secretary and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia in Makati City.
In an official statement released by the ADB after Nakao’s courtesy call on two of President Duterte’s economic managers, the bank disclosed that it is “ready to increase assistance further based on discussion with the new administration.”
“We are certainly open to discussions on the higher level of assistance being offered by the ADB to put the 10-point socioeconomic agenda on the fast track,” Dominguez said.
“The ADB has certainly not failed us in the past, judging from its almost a half-century of development partnership with our country from the time it first extended aid for agricultural and rural development in Mindanao in 1969,” he said.
“On behalf of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, we thank the ADB, through its President Takehiko Nakao, for its commitment of full support to the new Philippine Government and its 10-point Socioeconomic Agenda for sustained high and inclusive growth,” Dominguez said.
“We believe the ADB’s full backing would go a long way in helping President Duterte deliver on his electoral mandate to bring progress to all Filipinos,” Dominguez said.
“The strengthened partnership between the Bank and the Philippine government on the Duterte presidency would, as conveyed by Mr. Nakao, focus on key areas that the 10-point agenda itself aims to harness to enable our people to truly benefit from a strong economy that the ADB projects to grow beyond 6% in 2017,” he said.
“These ADB priority areas, ranging from infrastructure, agricultural and regional development to employment, education and social protection, are the very same concerns that the new government aims to address by raising beyond the norm our public investments in human and physical capital,” he said.
In the ADB statement, the bank said that in the Fridayafternoon meeting, Nakao congratulated Dominguez and Pernia on their appointments, “expressed support for the new administration’s 10-point Economic Agenda and affirmed ADB’s strong partnership for promoting sustainable economic growth, reducing poverty, and improving the welfare and livelihoods of Filipinos.”
The ADB statement quoted Nakao as saying that, “The recent strong growth of the Philippines provides a foundation for further sustainable growth to fully realize this country’s enormous potential. Our support will be tailored to the government’s socio-economic and poverty reduction priorities, and to the country’s middle-income status. We are looking forward to further discussions on how we can best support the country.”
Nakao commended “President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration’s aim of spreading the benefits of strong growth. The Philippines can harness its vast potential by tapping its young and educated population in pursuit of higher productivity and job creation, especially in such areas as small- and medium-enterprises, tourism and agri-business.”
Nakao further said, “Based on the government’s prospective development plans, ADB is prepared to support areas such as (i) accelerating infrastructure development with special attention to the role of public-private partnerships; (ii) rural and value chain development in agriculture; (iii) improving human capital investment including health and education; and (iv) social protection through conditional cash transfers.”
The ADB president also “reiterated ADB’s commitment to supporting the government’s efforts to bring lasting peace and development to Mindanao. ADB is actively working with local authorities to prepare the Mindanao Development Program, and on various projects to develop road infrastructure.”
Dominguez said, “We are heartened by the ADB’s pledge to continue supporting the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in the regions devastated by typhoon Yolanda as well as the development of Mindanao, which is crucial not only to alleviating poverty but to finding lasting peace as well in the southern Philippines.
