Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno and South Korea Deputy Prime Minister Kyungho Choo formally exchanged the final draft of the Framework Arrangement that will enable the Philippines to access South Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) for the Marcos administration’s infrastructure development program.

“We express our deep gratitude to South Korea — one of our largest [Official Development Assistance (ODA)] providers — for its continuing support to the administration’s Build Better More Program,” said Secretary Diokno in a tweet following the formal exchange at the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Board of Governors Annual Meeting on Wednesday, September 28, 2022.

South Korea is one of the largest providers of ODA to the Philippines, with loan and grant commitments amounting to around USD850.88 million.

The renewal of the Framework Arrangement will allow the Philippine Government to access up to US$3 billion of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from EDCF from 2022 to 2026, which will be funded by the Government of Korea through its Ministry of Economy and Finance.

This proposed fresh fund is on top of the US$1 billion that the South Korean government earlier committed under an ongoing Framework Arrangement for 2017 to 2022.

The ODA shall be used to finance the Marcos administration’s infrastructure development plan called the Build, Better, More Program.

The renewed Framework Arrangement for 2022 to 2026 is targeted to be signed at a later date.

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