By the yearend, the World Bank will sanction financing for another $1.9 billion in projects in the Philippines. It aimed to help the economy rebound from the COVID-19-induced recession, the Finance Department (DOF) said on Friday.
Specifically, the World Bank said in a recent letter to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III. He said that the Washington-based multilateral lender remained supportive of the Duterte administration’s ambitious “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.
Ndiamé Diop, the country director of the World Bank for Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, told Dominguez.
The lender will “fund and fund the government’s policies and initiatives” while “chartering a vigorous recovery from the pandemic.”
The World Bank Also Urged the Philippine Government
Citing Diop’s letter to Dominguez, the DOF said that the World Bank’s pipeline of projects that it has redesigned to assist the Philippines’ economic recovery along with efforts to address the COVID-19 emergency included programs on improving social protection initiatives for poor and vulnerable households, and supporting the government’s capabilities to deliver basic education through distance or remote learning.
The World Bank also urged the Philippine government to accelerate. And also, streamline the processes required to get the pipeline of projects moving in their various approval stages, given the emergency situation we are in, the DOF said.
The World Bank has now disbursed $1.2 billion out of the previous COVID-19 response loans that it provided to the Philippines.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) also said it disbursed the 50-billion yen COVID-19 crisis response emergency aid loan signed in July to the Philippine government last Aug. 14.
The Philippines was the first country to take advantage of the new highly concessional lending program. In addition, Japanese government offered and as the first borrower to disburse the fund.
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