The World Bank has approved $900-million worth of new project loans the government sought to recover from the pandemic, improve competitiveness and build resilience against shocks and natural disasters.
The World Bank said in a statement it has approved a $600-million worth “Promoting Competitiveness and Enhancing Resilience to Natural Disasters Development” (Pcerndd) policy loan and a $300-million loan to finance additional financing for the Kalahi-Cidss National Community Driven Development Project (KC-NCDDP).
With these new loans, the Philippines has secured a total of $3.062 billion worth of financing from the Washington-based lender this year. Prior to these two loans, the World Bank has approved eight loans and grants for the Philippines.
“Reforms to improve digital infrastructure and speed up adoption of digital technologies will not only help the country’s efforts to recover from the impacts of the pandemic but will also boost its export competitiveness that is vital for creating more and better jobs in the future,” the statement quoted Ndiamé Diop, World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand.
According to the lender, the Pcerndd policy loan aims to support efforts to adopt digital technologies, promote greater competition, and reduce the costs of doing business to revive more economic activities and jobs in the country.
The World Bank said these will help small and medium enterprises bounce back from the pandemic as well as citizens to cope with social distancing measures and other health protocols. These efforts will also improve the delivery of social assistance to the most disadvantaged groups in society.
These efforts include promoting competition and digital infrastructure expansion in the telecommunications sector, shifting to digital transactions for customs procedures to reduce trade costs, indemnity insurance to protect public assets (e.g., schools, hospitals) from natural disasters, and implementing the National ID program for financial inclusion and social transfer program delivery.
“The implementation of the national ID system is a fundamental reform that will allow for better targeting of social programs, reducing transaction costs, and ensuring the protection of vulnerable groups, especially in times of shocks including pandemics and natural disasters,” Diop said.
Meanwhile, the additional financing for the Kalahi-Cidss (Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services) NCDD project will provide grants to finance community-identified and community-managed responses that restore or improve basic social services.
This includes services to address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and other disasters that affected the poorest and most vulnerable municipalities.
These community projects include local basic facilities such as access roads/bridges, water systems, school buildings and day care centers, in the poorest barangays/municipalities which have limited internal revenue allotment (IRA) from the national government and are otherwise not reached by other programs due to their geographic isolation and difficult circumstances.
The KC-NCDDP is implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
“Community-driven development approaches have shown to be effective in accelerating community reconstruction following disaster events and efficiently putting money for priority needs of communities around the world,” said Diop. “I have no doubt that the same approach—communities working together to address common challenges—will help them bounce back from this pandemic and build resilience to future shocks at the same time.”
Based on data from the World Bank, the largest loans approved this year, apart from these two new loans, are: the $600-million “Beneficiary First Social Protection” project and the financing for the “Philippines Emergency Covid-19 Response” development policy loan and the “Third Disaster Risk Management” development policy loan. Both amounted to $500 million each.
The smallest financing received by the country this year is a grant worth $850,000 for the “Conflict Monitoring and Participatory Processes” for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The World Bank Group is making available up to $160 billion over a 15-month period ending June 2021 to help more than 100 countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses and bolster economic recovery.
The amount includes $50 billion of new International Development Association resources through grants and highly concessional loans and $12 billion for developing countries to finance the purchase and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.