President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in shake hands after they declare their joint press statement following the successful bilateral meeting at the Blue House in Seoul on June 4, 2018. TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
SEOUL, South Korea — President Duterte is expected to bring home USD4.9 billion in investment and loan agreement from his official visit to South Korea. The said amount is expected to generate thousands of jobs for the Filipinos.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominquez III said that the Korean government doubled its Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the Philippines from USD500 million to USD 1 billion dollars for the period 2017 to 2022.
A total of 171.42 million US dollars will go to the construction of the Cebu International Container Port that seeks to increase the capacity of Cebu port that caters the movement of goods and services in the Visayas Region.
USD50 million will go to irrigation projects; USD100 million for the construction of a new Dumaguete Airport; and USD41 million for the implementation of electronic receipt in all retail stores to make tax collection easier. The amount will also fund the rehabilitation of Marawi City.
The Finance secretary assured that the Philippines will have no difficulty paying for the loan as it only has a 0.15 percent interest rate and is payable within 40 years with a 10-year grace period.
“It is very generous of the Korean government and certainly we can afford this because when they put the port, we will be charging port charges and goods will flow more quickly,” said Sec. Dominquez. — Grace Casin | UNTV News & Rescue
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