Japan disburses 50B yen loan to PH for Covid response

THE Japanese government disbursed its 50-billion yen Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) Crisis Response Emergency Support Loan (CCRESL) to the Philippines, the Department of Finance (DoF) announced on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Finance department said the loan, that aims to assist the country’s ongoing efforts to contain the further spread of the disease and provide economic relief to Filipinos most affected by this global health crisis, was disbursed on Friday last week.

The disbursement date was set 44 days after the signing of the agreement on July 1.

The CCRESL took effect on August 11 and was quickly disbursed by the Japanese government through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), according to the DoF.

“We thank Tokyo and JICA for the release in record time of this emergency support loan for the Duterte administration’s Covid response that has made the Philippines the first recipient of Japan’s assistance program for economies battered by the coronavirus-induced global health and economic crisis,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd was quoted as saying.

“This underscores the strong partnership between Japan and the Philippines under the Duterte presidency and the top priority that the Japanese government has given to our country as its development partner, especially at this time of the Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic,” he added.

Source: TheManila Times