Businessmirror ‘Japan has our back’: PHL gets 50-B yen loan package
‘THANK you, Ambassador, from the bottom of our heart .... That’s more than friendship; that’s plain pure partnership. Japan has our back,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. tweeted on Tuesday, following the exchange of diplomatic notes on a ¥50-billion loan package from Japan.
The loan, which was not yet included in the Department of Finance September 14 tally of foreign assistance for the Philippines’s Covid response, aims to support the country’s fight against the pandemic and its quick recovery from other natural and health-related disasters.
Locsin and Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda led the exchange rites at the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Mabini Hall.
“I signed the Post-disaster
Stand-by Loan [PDSL] on September 15 to support quick recovery after natural & health-related disasters. This 50B yen fund is the most significant Japan assistance to Philippines since the onset of Covid-19, along with the 50B yen loan in July.”
Locsin added: “Post-disaster standby credit, this is the second one with the same give-away terms: 0.01 percent, 30-year repayment, 10-year grace period.
That’s more than friendship that’s plain pure partnership. Japan has our back,” Locsin added.
In a subsequent ceremony at the Department of Finance, Japanese Ambassador Haneda said, “as a calamity-prone country like the Philippines, Japan fully understands the value of safeguarding lives, infrastructure and livelihood.”
“Filipinos can count on Japan to remain responsive to the call of times as a true friend, closer than a brother. What we have persistently built together during the time of Prime Minister Abe, we will continue to sustain under Japan’s new leadership. With the utmost support of everyone, we will bring Japan-philippines partnership on to the next level,” Haneda added.
The PDSL 2 will be available for quick disbursement in tranches within three years, once the loan is declared effective, and may be extended for an additional three-year period for up to four times. The maturity period is 40 years, inclusive of a 10-year grace period.
The PDSL 2 was extended by Japan in recognition of the Philippines’s plans and accomplishments in the following reform areas: 1) policy and institutional framework for disaster risk reduction and management; 2) financial resilience to natural disasters and climate change; and 3) public health emergency preparedness.
“The ¥50-billion Post-disaster Standby Loan Phase II is seen to help the Philippines to better manage its vulnerability to natural disasters, to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, and to mitigate the adverse effects of these risks on the country’s economy,” the DFA said in a statement.
In July the Philippines and Japan also exchanged notes on the Covid-19 Crisis Response Emergency Support Loan, also in support of the Philippine efforts to combat and recover from Covid-19.