MANILA - The Philippines is seeking $325 million more in loans from the Asian Development Bank to finance its planned 60 million COVID-19 vaccine roll out in 2021.
ADB country director for PH Kelly Bird said Tuesday it is in close coordination with Department of Finance and Department of Health to finalize the loan package, which is on top of the recently approved $9.4 billion pipeline for the country.
APVAX provides funding for vaccine procurement and logistics costs to support ADB’s developing members.“The PH has a very strong fiscal situation coming into the crisis… they have a fiscal program that was announced a few months back for 2021 and 2022. The debt levels are increasing, I understand would be around 54 -58 percent of GDP around 2022. So that's still relatively low for a country that has a triple B plus rating," Bird said.
In November, Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez III announced P40 billion earmarked for vaccine procurement will be sourced through multilateral loans with the ADB and/or the World Bank; the remaining P20 billion from domestic financing , and P13.2 billion from bilateral partnerships. Vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. expressed optimism on Monday contracts with vaccine manufacturers Novavax and AstraZeneca may be inked before yearend to meet government’s 60-million vaccine distribution target to achieve “herd immunity” under WHO guidelines.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
PH seeks $325-M ADB loan to procure COVID-19 vaccinesThe Philippine government is requesting a $325-million (P15.627 billion) loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to procure coronavirus vaccines.
Read more »
Philippines seeks $325-million ADB loan for coronavirus vaccines
Read more »
DOH: 766 new infections push PH COVID-19 PH tally to 470,650The country’s tally of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases reached 470,650 after the Department of Health recorded 766 new infections on...
Read more »
COVID VAX PLAN: Things you need to know about the PH COVID-19 vaccination programThe Philippine government is eyeing to start rolling out the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination program by the end of this month as initial doses of vaccines are expected to arrive this February.
Read more »
ADB: Poor infrastructure seen to slow Covid-19 vaccination in rural PHPoor infrastructure and the lack of cold storage facilities in the countryside would slow down the Philippines’ vaccination program, which targets to inoculate the entire population by 2023, the Asian Development Bank said. READ:
Read more »