The disbursement rate of the country's cumulative official development assistance (ODA) has increased by 1 percentage point to 80 percent amounting to US$9.03 billion as of the third quarter of 2009.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the amount financed 94 loans consisting of US$6.8-billion (75%) project loans and US$2.23-billion (25%) program loans.

NEDA director Roderick Planta said in terms of funding source, the availment rate is highest with ADB at 90 percent, followed by JICA and China at 80.83 percent and 78.39 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the disbursement level increased to US$993.61 million for the third quarter of 2009, up by 63 percent than the disbursement level that reached US$610.67 million in the same period last year.

The significant increase in disbursements was largely attributed to the single tranche release of two program loans – US$150 million for the Asian Development Bank-funded (ADB) Governance in Justice Sector Reform Program Subprogram II and US$200 million for the World Bank-funded (WB) Global Food Crisis Response Program Development Policy Operations.

The biggest loans disbursed were funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) with US$356.05 million, followed by WB and ADB with US$304.62 million and US$172.38 million, respectively.

Disbursement level is the actual amount of disbursements from all ODA loans for the period January to September 2009.

Planta also said the disbursement rate likewise increased to 79 percent for the third quarter of 2009. This was nine percentage points higher than the 70 percent disbursement rate registered in the same period last year.