ADB boosts sovereign lending to aid Philippine economic development

Tokyo

THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced on Tuesday that it will substantially boost its sovereign lending to the Philippines over the next few years, so that the bank's host country can finance infrastructure projects and a range of social and other services.

ADB president Takehiko Nakao, who met Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima in Manila to discuss the move, said the ADB stood ready to boost sovereign lending from the present US$1.8 billion over the three years 2015 to 2017, to about US$3 billion between 2016 and 2018, using the bank's expanded lending capacity.