PH eyes 25 ODA deals worth $10B
The Philippines is set to lock in over $10 billion worth of new official development assistance (ODA) deals, with fresh commitments from South Korea, France and Japan for projects lined up in 2026.
According to Finance Secretary Frederick Go, the government is eyeing 25 ODA loan agreements—10 from Japan, 10 from South Korea and five from France—with a total value of $10.326 billion.
Data provided by the Department of Finance showed that South Korea accounts for the largest share of the pipeline at $6.2 billion, followed by France at $1.836 billion (1.529 billion euros) and Japan at $2.29 billion (354.31 billion Japanese yen).
The Japan figure corrects Go’s earlier statement that the Philippines was targeting 11 ODA agreements worth $2.41 billion, equivalent to 371.31 billion Japanese yen.
As of end-2024, the country’s total ODA portfolio stood at $39.61 billion, up 6 percent from a year earlier. This consists of 92 project loans, 19 program loans, and 315 grants.
Japan remains the Philippines’ largest ODA source, with $13.96 billion as of December 2025, accounting for 33.54 percent of the total portfolio.
More financing
In a separate development, Go said the Philippines was also in talks with the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for two potential projects in 2026.
The first is the proposed $500-million Luzon Digital Connectivity Project to be implemented by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
The second is the $150-million Metro Manila sponge city project, designed to improve flood retention capacity in the capital, to be implemented by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
But Go clarified that discussions are ongoing and the financing has yet to be finalized.
“We’re still discussing with the AIIB, together with DICT and MMDA. But yes, two projects in 2026 apart from another five to six projects that we are looking at together,” he said.
“So the cooperation with AIIB continues to be quite robust,” he added.
In 2025, AIIB financed two Philippine projects—the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network Project and the Facility for Accelerating Studies for Infrastructure.
With the country on track to achieve upper middle-income country status, Go said the government expects to gradually reduce its reliance on concessional financing.
“We will have to find other sources of financing, most importantly for major projects, such as infrastructure, climate change, sustainability, energy and agriculture. We will have to become more and more reliant on PPP (public-private partnership) projects,” he said.
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