TOKYO – Japan and the Philippines formally inked an agreement for a 30-billion yen loan in support of the latter’s emergency response measures against the novel coronavirus.
JICA President Akihiko Tanaka and Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez III signed the agreement for the second phase of the COVID-19 Crisis Response Emergency Support Loan (CCRESL 2) on behalf of the two governments at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) headquarters in Tokyo on April 25. The signing ceremony was also witnessed by Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko and his Filipino counterpart Jose Laurel V.
The loan, which is co-financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), carries concessional lending terms of 0.01 percent fixed interest rate per annum with a maturity period of 15 years, inclusive of a 4-year grace period–the same as with the first 50-billion yen CRESL.
The first phase of the CCRESL was signed in July 2020 to assist the Philippines’ efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and provide economic relief to Filipinos hit the hardest by the pandemic.
Japan’s comprehensive support to the Philippines since the onset of the pandemic include the following:
- Donation of 3.09 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines
- Budgetary support financing through CCRESL1 and the second phase of the Post Disaster Stand-by Loan (PDSL) worth a combined 867 million USD
- COVID-19-related grant aid (cold chain logistics, crisis response, provision of medical equipment worth 25.18 million USD
- Provision of Avigan tablets for COVID-19 treatment - FJJ
(Photo courtesy of Japan Embassy, Manila)