Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 29) — The Department of Finance, along with three multilateral partner-institutions, formalized on Monday the loan agreements amounting to ₱58.4 billion (or $1.2 billion), which will be used to support the country’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement.
In the program’s virtual launch, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the “prompt and substantial” financing will help the national government hit its goal to inoculate this year all adult Filipinos, or around 70 million people, against COVID-19.
Of the total foreign loans, $500 million will come from the World Bank, $400 million from the Asian Development Bank, and $300 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Dominguez said the multilateral institutions will directly pay the vaccine suppliers, which means the money will not be handled by the Philippine government. He added that the loan packages follow global best practices on safeguard measures.
“We appreciate our multilateral partners’ responsiveness and flexibility in providing appropriate and timely financing support to cater to our specific needs during this pandemic,” Dominguez said. “They stood side by side with us throughout this battle by giving us the ample ammunition we need to quickly recover from this health crisis.”
The Philippines has allocated a total of ₱82.5 billion for vaccine procurement and administration. Apart from international lending institutions, funds will also come from the 2021 national budget and official development assistance. Dominguez earlier said the amount is enough to buy around 148 million vaccine doses to immunize all Filipino adults by this year.
The country also obtained on Monday the one million vaccine doses it purchased from China’s Sinovac. It was the first national government-procured shipment to reach the Philippines. Prior to this, the country has only received vaccines donated by the Chinese government, as well as by other nations through the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility.
