PH, World Bank sign P1-B loan agreements

Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno and World Bank (WB) Country Director for the Philippines Ndiamé Diop signed four loan agreements amounting to US$1.14 billion on June 26, 2023 at the Department of Finance (DOF) office in Manila.

The loans will finance various government initiatives aimed at accelerating economic recovery, strengthening climate resilience, improving the quality of education, and developing the agriculture and fisheries sectors.

US$276 million will support projects of the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), specifically the Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project (MIADP) and the Philippine Fisheries and Coastal Resiliency (FishCoRe) Project.

The MIADP aims to sustainably increase the agricultural productivity, resiliency, and accessibility to markets and services of organized farmers and fisherfolks in selected ancestral domains and for selected value chains in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, FishCoRe aims to improve fisheries management, enhance the value of fisheries production, and elevate incomes in selected coastal communities.

To improve the quality of education, a US$110 million loan agreement was signed for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Teacher Effectiveness and Competencies Enhancement Project (TEACEP).

The TEACEP aims to improve equitable access to quality teaching in Kindergarten to Grade 6 (K-6) in project-supported areas, namely Regions IX (Zamboanga Peninsula), XII (SOCCSKSARGEN) and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Finally, budgetary support amounting to US$750 million under the Philippines First Sustainable Recovery Development Policy Loan (DPL) will support the country’s policy reforms aimed at boosting environmental protection and climate resilience.

The loan agreements were signed using a digital signing platform (DocuSign) in support of the WB’s shift to simplify and streamline its business processes through digital technology. The WB will be using e-signatures as the default modality for the signing of its financing agreements beginning July 1, 2023.

The WB-International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is the Philippines’ ​​third largest official development assistance (ODA) partner.