International Finance Corp., the World Bank’s private sector funding arm, seeks to help create new jobs and reduce poverty in Mindanao by supporting the agribusiness lending of Rizal Microbank, a thrift bank owned by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.
IFC signed an agreement with Rizal Microbank to help the latter extend more financing to Mindanao’s agricultural input suppliers, traders, processors, post-harvest facility providers and other small agribusinesses.
In a statement, IFC said supporting agribusiness was crucial to the country’s economy as this sector employs a third of the Philippine workforce—around 13 million people—but contributed only 11 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2012.
“We see great potential in the agricultural sector of Mindanao and consider IFC’s global experience a unique advantage in accelerating the bank’s efforts to extend financing to different value chain players in agribusinesses and small enterprises in rural areas,” said Lourdes Pineda, Rizal Microbank president.
IFC resident representative Jesse Ang said working with Rizal Microbank was “in line with the World Bank Group’s thrust to support agribusiness.”
Rizal Microbank lends directly to micro-borrowers and small enterprises. In its four years of operation, the bank has disbursed more than P1 billion in loans, ranging from P50,000 to P1 million to around 12,000 clients.