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By Chino S. Leyco, Reporter
THE government plans to tap two state-owned
banks for investments in infrastructure in the first half of the
year, the Department of Finance said.
Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said Land
Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines will
each allot P10 billion this year for loans to local government units
(LGUs) aimed at financing their infrastructure projects.
“We’ll try to get them during the first
half. What we need are investments in social service and
infrastructure,” Teves told reporters.
The finance chief said the two state-owned
lenders have enough resources for the program after the government
provided them some support at the tail end of last year.
“In the case of Land Bank, we helped them
recover from their accounts receivable, so they [would] be able to
generate P3 billion from the government. That will increase their
capacity to lend to LGUs for instance,” he said.
The government earlier announced it is
front-loading its infrastructure and social spending in the first
quarter to counteract the likely impact of a possible US recession
and sustain domestic economic growth at the high end of its target.
President Arroyo had said the government would
release P200 billion to fund infrastructure projects. Budget
Secretary Rolando G. Andaya Jr. said 60 percent of this year’s
capital outlays, or an estimated P113 billion, would be released in
the first three months to keep the domestic economy afloat amid a
US-led global slowdown.
For this year, the government had proposed a
P1.23 trillion budget.
Gilda E. Pico, Land Bank chief executive had
said loans to the lender’s priority sectors reached P96.6 billion,
representing 71 percent of its total loan portfolio of P135 billion
last year. This was higher than the 65 percent share the bank had
aimed for.
Of that amount, LGUs took up P27.1 billion to
finance their infrastructure projects, Pico said.
For this year, about P10.9 billion worth of
infrastructure projects of various LGUs are in the pipeline for
financing.
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