For the period of January to March, the Monetary Board (MB) approved a total of $5.56 billion of public sector foreign borrowings.

These are 16 percent higher than the $4.80 billion approved in the same period in 2022. These consist of one US dollar denominated bond issuance amounting to $3 billion, two project loans aggregating to $0.30 billion, and five program loans aggregating to $2.26 billion.

These borrowings will fund the National Government’s (NG) general budget financing and financing/refinancing of assets in line with the Republic of the Philippines’ (RP’s) Sustainable Finance Framework ($3.0 billion), COVID-19 pandemic response and recovery, among others ($2.26 billion), infrastructure ($0.20 billion), and education ($0.10 billion) projects.

Under Section 20, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution of the RP, prior approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through its MB, is required for all foreign loans to be contracted or guaranteed by the RP.

Similarly, Letter of Instructions No. 158 dated January 21, 1974 requires all foreign borrowing proposals by the NG, government agencies and government financial institutions to be submitted for approval-in-principle by the MB before commencement of actual negotiations. BSP