The United Kingdom (UK) government launched its British Investment Partnerships (BIP) to finance sustainable development in the Philippines, the Department of Finance (DOF) said. “Today’s event is a major win not only in the Philippines’ development journey, but in the realm of development finance as a whole,” Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said in his remarks during a launching ceremony. The UK has been a strategic development partner of the Philippines for nearly 80 years and has supported the country when it launched its first-ever Sustainable Finance Roadmap in 2021. Now, through the BIP, the UK government aims to deepen economic, security and development ties globally, while delivering jobs and growth in both the UK and in developing countries. The UK intends to mobilize up to £8 billion of financing a year by 2025, including from the private sector. Investments will focus on high-impact target areas such as green infrastructure, clean technology, and climate finance. “Through the British Investment Partnerships, the UK Government sets out to deliver real change in the modern, post-pandemic world,” Diokno said. Infrastructure is a top priority of the Marcos administration in the next five years and is reflected in the 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda, the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF), as well as the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028. According to Diokno, investments in infrastructure have the highest impact on the economy as it creates more quality and green jobs, encourages more businesses to open, and improves the ease of doing business. “For far too long, infrastructure in the Philippines has languished on the back burner of national government spending. From 2001 to 2014, average infrastructure spending was only at 2 percent of GDP [gross domestic product],” Diokno said. According to him, the Philippines only recognized the urgency of building up its infrastructure portfolio in 2016––referring to it as the ‘Golden Age of Infrastructure’. The current administration is determined to build on the previous administration’s infrastructure push and maintain high infrastructure spending at 5 to 6 percent of GDP from 2023 to 2028. To finance this, the government will seek support from the private sector through the public-private partnership (PPP) mechanism to address cross-cutting issues such as a weak competition environment and the widening digital divide. The Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) were recently revised to make PPPs more efficient. The revisions were made to reflect best investment policies and practices, as well as address stakeholder concerns on the financial viability and bankability of PPP projects.