Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 15) — Sen. Win Gatchalian questioned the Land Bank of the Philippines’ investible funds amounting to ₱1.3-trillion, saying the money should be lent out to help the agriculture sector.
I’m not impressed to hear that there’s ₱1.3 trillion lying around, not being lent to our agriculture sector,” he said during a Senate hearing on the Maharlika Investiment Fund (MIF).Gatchalian’s remarks surfaced following the presentation of Foundation for Economic Freedom president Calixto Chikiamco, who pointed out that there could be a “huge” opportunity cost, with the initial MIF funding coming from Landbank and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).Under the bill, Landbank is set to provide ₱50 billion, while DBP will shell out ₱25 billion for the Maharlika Investment Corp.During the hearing, Cecillia Borromeo, Landbank president and CEO, shared that the state-run bank has an investment portfolio amounting to ₱1.3 trillion – a bulk of which is parked in government bonds and treasury bills.
Gatchalian, however, stressed the agriculture sector needs “a lot of capital.”
The agriculture sector needs investment, consolidating lands, modernizing… How come there’s ₱1.3 trillion lying around?” he said.Borromeo responded, saying there was an issue about the “absorptive capacity of priority sectors, such as the agriculture sector.While we are working to increase the absorptive capacity of the agri sector, the reality is there are so many challenges and most of the players in the agribusiness are not yet ready to be funded via credit,” she explained.The Landbank official also noted that the bank’s loan portfolio to the sector reached ₱261 billion as of end-2022.
