Artist’s impression of the planned Subic-Clark railway project The Philippines finally withdrew from a 276 billion pesos ($4.9 billion) infrastructure financing deal with China after Beijing failed to provide loans on “competitive terms”. Cesar Chavez, the country’s deputy transport minister, officially confirmed that the deal had been halted earlier this week. New Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr tore up plans initially negotiated by his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, citing Beijing’s “failure to act on funding requests” and ordered Renegotiate the entire deal with Beijing, or find other…
The Philippines finally withdrew from a 276 billion pesos ($4.9 billion) infrastructure financing deal with China after Beijing failed to provide loans on “competitive terms”.
Cesar Chavez, the country’s deputy transport minister, officially confirmed that the deal had been halted earlier this week.
New Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. tore up plans originally negotiated by his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, citing Beijing’s “failure to act on funding requests” and ordered the entire deal to be renegotiated with Beijing, or to find Other potential partners Chavez said.
Options include leveraging private capital through public-private partnerships or entering into development assistance agreements with other countries, he added.
Japan offers lower interest rates
One candidate could be Japan, which offers lower interest rates on potential project loans than China demands more than 3 percent a year.
The original agreement was for Chinese construction companies to build the Subic-Clark rail project, the Philippine National Railroad South long-distance project and the Davao-Digos section of the Mindanao rail project.
Part of the Belt and Road Initiative
Chinese President Xi Jinping negotiated a multi-billion dollar deal with Duterte to calm tensions in the South China Sea. It’s part of China’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative to expand its global reach in developing countries.
In return, China wants the Philippines to shelve its claims in the South China Sea. But Marcos has vowed to take a tougher stance on national sovereignty and make the Philippine economy “more independent.”
