MANILA -- Post-Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut) funding requirements can be augmented by a USD500 million loan from the World Bank (WB) that can be tapped once President Rodrigo R. Duterte declares a state of calamity.
This was announced by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III during the Philippine economic briefing held at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) office in Manila Tuesday. “Should the President declare a state of calamity, we will be able to access a (USD) 500 million loan from the World Bank at very, very favorable terms and interest rates,” he said.
The Finance chief said they recommended this proposal to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Pending the final assessment of the damage to crops, among others, Dominguez said they cannot determine yet how much would be needed for measures to help areas damaged by the typhoon over the weekend. “We don’t have the total picture at the moment,” he said.
The NDRRMC has reported that some 218,492 families have been affected by the typhoon.
Specifically, these victims number to around 893,844 persons living in 3,237 villages in the Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR); Central Luzon, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (Calabarzon); Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan (MIMAROPA), and the National Capital Region (NCR).
Initial figures show that damage to agriculture in Cagayan Valley and CAR alone amounted to around PHP9.358 billion. Several areas in the Visayas were also damaged by the strong typhoon, which also wreaked havoc in Guam before hitting the Philippines. (PNA)
