Vol. XXII, No. 107 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
THE LAND BANK of the Philippines (Landbank) is prepared to spend P20 billion for infrastructure programs of the National Government as it pump-primes an economy besieged by a worsening global slowdown, Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves told reporters on Friday last week.
Mr. Teves said the P20 billion would be Landbank’s contribution to the P100-billion fund proposed by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry as part of efforts to spur economic activity amid the global slump.
"The P20 billion is a part of the P100-billion infrastructure fund. Some P20 billion of their loanable funds will be spent for this type of spending, mostly in infrastructure," he said.
President Gloria M. Arroyo said last October that the amount would be shouldered equally by the state and the private sector.
In a phone interview yesterday, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Executive Vice-President Armando O. Samia said Landbank, DBP, Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System will finalize their contributions early next year. "The details are still being fixed. Since it is already Christmas, we will discuss details next year. We have to sit down on who is going to contribute more or less," he said.
He said DBP has pledged to commit P12.5 billion to the P50 billion to be divided among state financial institutions.
"Projects have yet to be identified. What we are targetting are those that will create jobs. It [each prospective project] must be a mass-based infrastructure project," he said. — RAMR
