By Chino S. Leyco The Department of Finance (DOF) is considering the possibility of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) entering into a partnership with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to jointly fund projects under the government’s infrastructure modernization program. Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III (DOF photo / Howard Felipe) Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the state-owned lender, which is being transformed into the government’s infrastructure bank, can team up with the Beijing-led AIIB to explore ways of expanding the latter’s project pipeline in the Philippines. Dominguez broached the idea during a meeting with Konstantin Limitovsky, AIIB’s Senior Advisor to the President and Chief Programming Officer, who was recently in Manila. “Working together, say with DBP, will help (AIIB) because you are too big to deal with our construction companies. Maybe funding them, getting them into some kind of joint funding or whatever structure you can together with DBP to do it, or the guarantee function. So let’s look at those (possibilities),” Dominguez said during the meeting at the DOF headquarters. The AIIB, Limitovksy said, would be open to the proposal, as it is one of the financing models the Bank is currently exploring. Limitovsky said he and some AIIB officials have already met with DBP officials, who explained to them the bank’s thrust towards development finance. According to Limitovsky, the AIIB is also studying the possibility of financing private sector-led infrastructure projects as another way to expand its presence in the Philippines, where the Bank so far has only one project — the Metro Manila Flood Management Project — which is co-financed with the World Bank.