PH secures $300-M loan from WB

The Philippines has secured a loan worth $300 million or about P13.47 billion from the World Bank for a program to cut red tape, improve infrastructure and increase tax collection.

In a statement Friday, the Department of Finance said the Washington DC-based multilateral lender’s Third Development Policy Loan (DPL 3) extended to the Philippines was expected to “boost fiscal sustainability and governance transparency.”

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima signed the loan agreement on behalf of the Philippine government last Oct. 14.

“DPL 3’s strong focus on fiscal sustainability, infrastructure, human capital and good governance enables the Philippines to boost our inclusive growth agenda as we reach the tailend of this administration. This is consistent with the Philippines’ partnership with the World Bank in ensuring our economic turnaround story translate into real and sustainable gains for the Filipino people,” Purisima said.

According to the DOF, the loan was aimed at spurring “sustained and inclusive growth and job creation through increasing physical and human capital investment, as well as tackling regulatory barriers in land, labor and capital markets.”

In particular, DPL 3 would assist the Philippines in strengthening priority public investment implementation; slashing the cost of doing business to generate jobs and lessen poverty; developing human capital among the poor; promoting fiscal transparency as well as good governance, and consolidating fiscal sustainability through revenue mobilization and risk management, DOF said.

Among the specific initiatives targeted for rollout under this loan are infrastructure development projects; streamlining business registration processes for micro, small and medium enterprises; institutional and policy development to boost human capital; transparency initiatives; measures to improve the tax effort, and promotion of integrated fiscal risk management strategy, DOF added.

The DOF is the main liaison with the World Bank and is in charge of loan implementation. Other agencies that are part of implementing DPL 3 are the departments of agriculture, budget and management, education, health, public works and highways, social work and community development, tourism and trade and industry, as well as the Climate Change Commission.

The World Bank’s latest “Ease of Doing Business” report released this week showed a nine-notch decline in the Philippines’ rank among 189 countries partly due to the truck ban implemented in the city of Manila from February to September, which had resulted in trade bottlenecks.