The Philippines is planning to pump a whopping $170 billion into infrastructure projects within a drive to attract capital and slash debt, according to the country’s Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez.
In an interview with the British Oxford Business Group, Dominguez said that the government is encouraged by a robust flow of revenue following the enforcement of the tax reform programme.
“We now have the means to invest in upgrading our logistics backbone. For years, the Philippines under-invested in public infrastructure. In 2018 infrastructure disbursements amounted to $16.9bn, equivalent to 5.1% of GDP,” he said.
“This is the first time our infrastructure disbursements exceeded 5% of GDP. We plan to invest around $170bn in this programme, reaching 7% of GDP by 2022.” Dominguez furthered as he said that investments cover 75 strategic infrastructure projects as well as thousands of projects to improve infrastructure and logistics across the country.
He said China and Japan have each committed $9bn in official development assistance, while South Korea has pledged $1bn.
“These commitments complement the support we are receiving from multilaterals, such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank…. We have taken great care to ensure that the economic returns on our major projects far outweigh the costs of financing, and that we have a diverse pool of project funding.”
Dominguez said the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio in 2018 was down to 41.9%, and it is expected to fall further as the completion of large infrastructure projects is accelerated.
