NEDA chief allays concern on U.S. foreign aid pause

January 27, 2025 , 03:49 PM

By Clarist Mae Zablan

(January 27, 2025) – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Monday allayed concerns over United States’ move to pause and review foreign aid worldwide, saying this is not expected to affect the Philippines directly in the short term.

NEDA Sec. Arsenio Balisacan noted that most of the Philippines’ external loans and grants for key infrastructure projects came from multilateral lenders such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank, and countries other than the U.S. such as Japan and South Korea.

The Philippines could still be indirectly affected in the medium term due to the effects of the U.S.’ move on multilateral institutions where the U.S. is a major shareholder, he said.

“It’s (U.S. grants to the Philippines) a bit significant, but not in a bigger scheme of things, in terms of the total amount of dollar revenues we get from outside. That’s quite small,” Balisacan told Palace reporters in an ambush interview.

ADB, World Bank, and Japan accounted for over 80% of the official development finance (ODF) to the Philippines in 2022, which includes loans and official development assistance (ODA), based on data from the Lowy Institute.

Disbursements from the United States, estimated at $156 million in 2022, accounted for 3% of the ODF to the Philippines in the same year.

Shortly after he took office last week, U.S. Pres. Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause in foreign aid, citing a need to review if they align with his foreign policy, Reuters reported. Last Friday, the U.S. Department of State issued a stop-work order for all existing foreign assistance across the world.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has been “closely monitoring” reports on the possible freeze of U.S. aid and plans to work with the U.S. government to determine its effects on the Philippines, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said over the weekend.

(PB | With reports from Maricel Halili, News5)

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