The Bangko Sentral has an $80-million loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency for government’s development policy support program, a senior official of the central bank said yesterday.

The Jica loan, approved in Thursday’s Monetary Board meeting, is a co-financing fund with the Asian Development Bank.

The central bank last year approved the government’s second development policy support program loan with the ADB amounting to $250 million.

The program aims to bolster economic growth reduce poverty and unemployment.

The program will continue reforms in the fiscal sector by improving sustainability, maintaining macroeconomic stability and upgrading the country’s creditworthiness by raising the quality of fiscal management.

Under the program, the government must reduce its budget deficit and improve tax administration. The program also aims to improve governance in public spending by upgrading institutional and reporting mechanisms for more effective public financial management.

It aims to expand the government’s conditional cash transfer program.

The program plans reduce transaction costs for business and widen infrastructure. It hopes to improve the investment climate by clarifying and strengthening the legal and regulatory framework and developing public-private options for addressing bottlenecks in the distribution of agricultural products from farmers to supermarkets.

Japan’s official development assistance policy focuses on poverty reduction, sustainable growth and human security and global issues to reduce vulnerabilities faced by peoples and communities.

Among its concerns are sustainable economic growth to create employment opportunities, poverty reduction and peace and stability in Mindanao. Eileen A. Mencias