Monday, 24 May 2010 00:00 [ manilatimes.net ]
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas gave its final approval to the loan availed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to rehabilitate Laguna Lake.
The Monetary Board, the policy-making body of the central bank, has given the go signal for the release of the loan, which is equivalent to 272.39 million euros, from Fortis Bank of Belgium.
Proceeds of the loan will be used to improve the ecological and environmental quality of Laguna Lake to restore its life support system. The funds would also be used to provide impetus to the socioeconomic development of the region and the capacity as a catch basin to reduce flooding in the adjacent town and cities.
The 12.5-year loan has a grace period of two and a half years, a commitment fee of 0.75 percent—based on the undrawn amount—and an arrangement fee of 1 percent of the total loan amount.
The national government would also bear the floating interest rate of six months JPY LIBOR, plus 1.25 percent margin or fixed interest rate, based on Forward Curve Matrix plus 1.25 percent margin.
The loan has the full guarantee of the national government through the Department of Finance.
During the first quarter, the government has contracted P137.98-billion worth of fresh loans from foreign sources, P6.49 billion of which came from project loans and P11.233 billion from program loans, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.
The balance of P120.254 billion came from sale of bonds and other inflows.
The government spent about P83.097 billion in amortization resulting in net external borrowings of P54.898 billion.
Lailany P. Gomez
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