Philippines mulls membership in AIIB

MANILA -- The Philippines has not decided to join the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) , Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said Monday.

Purisima, in a statement released by presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, said the Philippine has until December to decide if it would join the AIIB or not.

He added that while some 50 countries are set to sign the constitution of the bank on June 29, there are other countries apart from the Philippines that are still not yet joining the bank like Denmark, Kuwait, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa and Thailand.

"We have until December to decide," he said.

President Benigno Aquino III had initially admitted that his country has "tremendous infrastructure needs".

The Beijing--based bank is expected to start operation at the end of the year.