The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which serves as the World Bank Group’s (WBG) private sector investment arm, lauded the Philippines’ new and improved policy framework for public-private partnerships (PPPs).

In a meeting with Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, IFC Regional Vice President for Asia and the Pacific Riccardo Puliti said that the recently approved PPP Code will help bring in more domestic and international investments in infrastructure.

The new PPP Code the consolidated and simplified the legal framework for all PPPs in the Philippines.

The IFC, meanwhile, emphasized its commitment to supporting the Philippines’ sustainable development by helping mobilize private sector capital and attract investments.

Currently, the IFC is working on Philippine PPP projects in healthcare, broadband, and transportation. 

For the period July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2022, IFC committed $720 million to projects in the Philippines aimed at fostering a more resilient and inclusive recovery, sustainability and digital transformation.

IFC also serves as an advisor for major projects, including Open Finance Advisory Services to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the University of the Philippines Philippine General Hospital Cancer Care Hospital PPP, National Broadband Plan, and transportation PPPs in regional airports, metros, and bus systems.

Meanwhile, Diokno expressed his support for the reforms introduced under the WBG’s Evolution Roadmap during the EDS15 Constituency Meeting with Executive Director Erivaldo A. Gomes.

The Evolution Roadmap, developed throughout the year leading up the 2023 Annual Meetings, outlines the bank’s enhancements to its mission and vision, operating model, and financial capacity and model.

The roadmap aims to better address the scale of ongoing development challenges such as poverty, shared prosperity, inequality, and cross-border challenges, including climate change, pandemics, and fragility, conflict and violence. 

“[We] support the proposed new vision and mission, which reflect the continued relevance of the Bank’s Twin Goals of eradicating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity, while including the mandate to address global challenges,” Diokno said. 

The new vision and mission statements have committed the Bank to creating “a world free of poverty – on a livable planet.”

“We also acknowledge and commend the Bank’s efforts to revamp its corporate scorecard as a new management tool to drive impact geared towards measurable outcomes aligned with the new vision and mission,” Diokno said.

The WBG’s enhanced corporate scorecard monitors its performance in key global and institutional priority areas, covering poverty, gender equality, learning poverty, health, job creation, well-being for people in fragility, conflict, and violence, food security, and the promotion of private investments.

The Office of the Executive Director for Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Philippines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago (EDS15) actively engages in the decision-making process of the WBG Board while taking into account the interests of member countries as well as the Bank.

Meanwhile, Diokno urged Japanese banks to invest in the Philippines’ infrastructure projects.

According to the Department of Finance (DOF), the Japanese banks expressed strong interest in advancing investments in the Philippines’ renewable energy (RE), sustainable technology, infrastructure, and fixed-income instruments.

Diokno shared with representatives from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Mizuho Securities, and Nomura Holdings the Philippines’ renewed focus on a just transition to RE, opportunities for PPPs and investments in the country’s infrastructure flagship projects (IFPs), and growing market for bonds and sustainable finance instruments.