"We noticed that many ODAs go to waste, or are supply driven and overpriced ... so our policy now is to reject as much as possible all ODAs that are supply-driven, because all they do is to enrich foreign suppliers," Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri, director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), told reporters.
Most ODA packages prove to be costly to government because of donor's obligations such as fees for consultants, Neri added.
He said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had just cancelled the purchase of seven maritime vessels from Australia, worth 570 million pesos each, that would have been financed through ODA.
"Those vessels could have been built locally for only 20-30 million pesos," he said.
Neri suggested to Land Bank of the Philippines president Margarito Teves and Development Bank of the Philippines chairperson Vitaliano Nañagas II that it would be more practical for the government to instead offer ODA-style credit to provincial governments.
He said domestic skills and technology could make up for what foreign projects would provide from abroad.
"What is ODA? It's just financing by foreigners, so why do we need to buy from them?" Neri said. Vincent Cabreza
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