THE Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) is opening a P47-billion credit facility to the health sector to help upgrade the quality of health services in the country, especially the countryside.

The bank yesterday launched its Sustainable Health Care Investment program, or SHCIP, in tandem with the German development lending institution KfW Bank.

The DBP is tapping $50 million in additional funding from KfW via a loan agreement signed in January.

DBP president Reynaldo David said the program will finance projects that range from procurement of health-care equipment, construction of health-care facilities, satisfying the working capital requirement, setting up health-education requirements and refinancing existing loans.

“The health sector has not been addressed that much before. We are looking into developing health services in the countryside. There are already many health establishments here [in Metro Manila]; we want to develop the countryside,” David said in an interview after the launch.

Yesterday, the DBP signed an agreement with state agencies that include the Department of Health, Philippine Health Insurance Corp., Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Municipal Fund Development Office of the Department of Finance to form the Health Sector Investment Advisory Committee that will oversee the implementation of the SHCIP.

Under the program, borrowers may avail of loans of up to 80 percent of the total project cost.

David said the credit window is open to all health establishments—from budget-strapped general hospitals to barangay health centers.

The DBP and KfW signed the $50-million loan deal for the SHCIP to encourage private-sector investments in the country’s health-care system.

Also, the DBP signed an agreement with UK-based CarbonAided Ltd. for the registration of seven mini-hydropower projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol.

David explained that CDM registration entitles project owners to profit from the sale of carbon-emission credits resulting from the implementation of their projects.

“A lot of people talk about carbon credits because they say if you go to renewable energy, you save the environment from pollution. And when you do, you save certain carbon-reduction credits. That credit is something you can sell in the open market. We are getting their carbon credits and… selling it to carbon agents. There are seven hydropower plants that we are registering,” he said.  

Some of the hydropower projects to be registered with the CDM are the Hinubasan Mini-hydropower Project in the Dinagat Islands; Cantigas Minihydro Power Projects in Romblon; and the Sevilla Mini-hydropower Project in Bohol.

He said the initiative enables the projects to generate an estimated emission reduction of 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year translating to around $150,000 in additional income to the small hydropower-project owners.

The CMD allows a country committed to the carbon-emission reduction or carbon-limitation program under the Kyoto Protocol to certify emission-reduction credits which can also be sold.

THE Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) is opening a P47-billion credit facility to the health sector to help upgrade the quality of health services in the country, especially the countryside.

AN opposition legislator sees no reason for Congress to investigate the establishment and operation of a fixed- income exchange and over-the-counter market for government securities even as he cleared the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) of alleged conspiracy on the issue of self-regulatory organizations (SRO).

THE authority of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) commissioner to appoint tax-collection agents is near absolute, monetary authorities were told by their legal team.

The peso fell to its weakest level in eight months Wednesday as the dollar gained on expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, currency traders said.