The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) is lining up around $4 billion, or roughly ₱236 billion, in low-interest official development assistance (ODA) lending for its host country, the Philippines, in 2026, bolstering a strong pipeline of priority national projects.

“We have a robust set of projects... for next year and going on into the future,” ADB country director for the Philippines Andrew Jeffries told reporters on the sidelines of the multilateral lender’s International Anticorruption Day 2025 celebration last week.

“We have a pipeline of projects for next year that we need to agree on with the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev),” he added.

Among next year’s pipeline, Jeffries said, are projects involving “transport, health, education, and public financial management (PFM)—a number of our normal sectors are engaged.”

He emphasized the roughly $4-billion lending pipeline for the Philippines under ODA, stressing that it “does not include our private-sector [operations], which just funds private companies and the like.”

Jeffries explained that the pipeline for next year includes both new projects and ongoing initiatives. “A lot are new,” he said, while “some carry over,” citing major infrastructure undertakings such as Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge (BCIB) and North-South Commuter Rail (NSCR).

“You know, because they’re so large and they take many years to construct, the loans are in phases,” he said.

“So I think we have some future phases of some of our large projects as part of that number for next year,” he added.

On the economic outlook, Jeffries said the ADB’s Philippine inflation forecast for next year has risen to three percent. “We need to sharpen that number by April. And maybe that’s too sharp an increase. But I guess the normal range of inflation is closer to three percent,” he said. The next ADB Asian Development Outlook (ADO) will be released in April 2026.

“I would read that as just kind of returning back to closer to normal,” he added.

Jeffries warned that inflation risks for next year could arise if the Philippine peso continues to weaken against the United States (US) dollar and other foreign currencies, noting that this would make imports more expensive and could push up overall inflation in imported goods.

However, he stressed that “I don’t see a big spike in inflation really being much of a risk, though. But I guess all we’re saying is it probably can’t stay so low for a long time.”

“It’s probably expected to go back to kind of its more normal trend level,” he said.

The latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed November inflation at 1.5 percent, easing from 1.7 percent in both September and October and matching the rate last August.

Headline inflation averaged 1.6 percent during the first 11 months of 2025, below the government’s two- to four-percent target range of annual consumer price increases deemed manageable and conducive to economic growth.