MANILA – The Official Development Assistance (ODA) loans financial performance for the second quarter of 2015 continues to indicate favorable management of resources, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

As of June 2015, total ODA loans portfolio amounted to US$9.79 billion, consisting of 11 program loans worth US$3.63 billion and 53 project loans of US$6.16 billion. According to the NEDA Monitoring and Evaluation Staff (MES), except for disbursement rate, absorptive capacity indicators – disbursement level, availment rate, and disbursement ratio – improved in the second quarter of 2015 from the same period last year.

The disbursement level increased to US$1.51 billion in second quarter of 2015 from US$1.09 billion in the same period of last year. This was due to the 287-percent increase in the disbursement of World Bank loans, an upsurge from US$204.26 million to US$789.80 million this year. Disbursement level is the amount of actual ODA loan drawdowns during the year, as registered with the development partners.

Moreover, the availment rate increased from 80 percent in second quarter of 2014 to 84 percent in the similar period this year. Availment rate is the cumulative actual disbursements as a percentage of cumulative scheduled disbursement, both reckoned from the start of implementation up to the reporting period.

The disbursement ratio likewise improved to 22 percent this year from 15 percent in the comparable period of last year. This was due to program loans that were able to disburse more than half (53 percent) of the available loan balance as of second quarter of the year. Disbursement ratio is measured as the ratio of actual loan drawdowns for the year as against the available loan balance at the beginning of the year.

Meanwhile, the disbursement rate, though still above the 70 percent threshold, decreased to 89 percent in the second quarter this year, an 18-percent year-on-year drop from 107 percent in 2014. Disbursement rate is the amount of actual disbursements made during the year as of the reporting period, as a percentage of target disbursements for the same period.

In terms of source of ODA loans, the World Bank was the biggest in the second quarter of 2015, with a 35-percent share amounting to US$3.44 billion. The Japan International Cooperation Agency came second with US$3.13 billion (32%) followed by the Asian Development Bank with US$2.58 billion (26%). Total assistance from WB, JICA, and ADB constitutes 94 percent (US$9.16 billion) of the loans portfolio.

Meanwhile, total net commitment – total commitment less cumulative cancellations – of the loans portfolio decreased to US$47.98 million in June 2015 compared to US$9.84 billion in the same month of last year.

The Infrastructure sector has the largest share of the loans portfolio in terms of net commitment with 39 percentage share (US$3.79 billion for 32 loans), followed by the Social Reform and Community Development with 25 percentage share (US$2.40 billion for 9 loans), Governance and Institution Development with 21 percentage share (US$2.06 billion for 5 loans), Agriculture, Natural Resources and Agrarian Reform with 17 percentage share (US$1.47 billion for 17 loans), and Industry, Trade and Tourism with one percentage share (US$64.27 million for one loan).

NEDA is mandated through the ODA Act of 1996 (Republic Act 8182) to conduct an annual review of all projects financed by ODA, identify causes of implementation and completion delays or reasons for bottlenecks, cost overruns and continued project or program viability. In lieu of this annual report, NEDA-MES also conducts quarterly and/or semiannual reviews and reports on ODA.

–END–