BSP-MB gives thumbs up to DBP’s loan from WB, JBIC

MANILA, Oct. 6 (PNA) – The policy-making Monetary Board (MB) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Thursday approved in principle the US$ 40 million supplemental loan of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), a unit of the World Bank (WB).

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the loan will be used “to finance the adaptable program loan of rural power projects.”

He explained that the loan is for the implementation of power projects in villages in the rural areas.

He said the project is eyed “to meet the needs of rural communities for adequate, affordable and reliable energy services.”

It is also for capacity-building, he said since it will “support the transformation of electric cooperatives through institutional and operational improvements.”

Tetangco said the loan has a foreign exchange risk cover fee of three percent and guarantee fee of one percent.

Relatively, the Board gave its final approval for DBP’s six untied loan facility from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) amounting to about US$ 93.5 million.

Tetangco said this loan is for relending “to finance the clean development mechanism projects and industry support loan program and other approved projects.”

He said the loan has a maturity of 14 years with six years grace period.