Manila Bulletin
PH, Japan seal ₱24-B loan for COVID-19 response
The Philippines and Japan have formally exchanged notes for a loan of approximately PHP24 billion to support the country's COVID-19 response and economic relief efforts.
The COVID-19 Crisis Response Emergency Support Loan (CCRESL) was processed in less than a month, making it the quickest loan ever secured under Japan's Official Development Assistance financing package.
The loan proceeds will be utilized by the Department of Health and the National Economic and Development Authority from 2020 to 2021 and can be retroactively applied to pandemic-related initiatives undertaken since April 2020.
The facility, co-financed with the ADB, carries a fixed interest rate of 0.01 percent per annum, with a 15-year maturity period including a four-year grace period.
Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda stated that the Philippines was the first recipient of the Japanese government's new COVID-19 crisis response emergency support.
This loan marks the Philippines' first COVID-19-related loan from a bilateral partner, with previous loans sourced from multilateral lenders.
Topics in this story
Explore more stories about these topics.
🤖
This story was generated by AI to help you understand the key points. For more detailed coverage, please see the news articles from trusted media outlets below.
News Sources
See how different news organizations are covering this story. Below are the original articles from various Philippine news sources that contributed to this summary.
The Philippine government is aiming to raise P436 billion or approximately $8.72 billion in foreign loans for its COVID-19 response and economic recovery efforts.
Read more →
The Philippines' gross borrowings from January to April reached P1.22 trillion, surpassing the total for the entire year of 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more →
Philippine Seven Corp. (PSC), the exclusive Philippine licensor of 7-Eleven, is providing up to P711 million in zero-interest loans to its franchisees through the Pandemic Support Program (PSP) to aid them through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more →
The Philippines and France have signed two credit facility agreements totaling €250 million to boost financial services for vulnerable sectors and increase private sector involvement in infrastructure projects.
Read more →