State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) is prepared to extend the needed technical and financial assistance to strategic initiatives that would ensure the successful implementation of the Marcos administration's three-year logistics master plan aimed at reducing the cost of commodities particularly food, a top official said.

DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Michael O. De Jesus said the bank would work closely with the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Agriculture, and other government agencies and key stakeholders to modernize the food distribution system and storage and to address prevailing supply chain gaps.

"DBP is one with President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s goal of ensuring reliable food supply at reasonable prices for all Filipinos," De Jesus said. "DBP will leverage on its experience and financial capability to support key programs to support this goal."

DBP is the eighth largest bank in the country in terms of assets and provides strategic financing support to critical economic sectors such as infrastructure and logistics, micro, small and medium enterprises, social services, and the environment.

In August this year, President Marcos, Jr. approved the country's three-year food logistics action agenda aimed at promoting food availability, accessibility, and affordability through strategies that would modernize the country's food distribution system, increase investments in logistics infrastructure, and address other supply chain gaps.

De Jesus said that as of the end of the first half of 2023, DBP has allocated P281.6 billion for projects under the infrastructure and logistics sector, representing 55.5 percent of its total loan to borrowers amounting to P506.9-billion.

He said total loan releases to the sector have reached P45.5 billion while deals in the pipeline are around P18.5 billion for the period covering January to June this year.

"As of July this year, DBP has approved a total of P25.55-billion in loans for 189 borrowers nationwide under the auspices of the Bank's Connecting Rural Urban Intermodal Systems Efficiently (CRUISE) program, which serves as our flagship facility for transport infrastructure and logistics sector," De Jesus said.