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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Philippines to accelerate digital shift with new World Bank loan

Philippines to accelerate digital shift with new World Bank loan

Published Nov 27, 2024 04:20 am

The Philippine government has made inroads towards greater digital transformation, as required by the newest loan it secured from the World Bank.

The Washington-based multilateral lender disclosed on Nov. 26 that Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto, on behalf of the government, signed the loan agreement for the $750-million Second Digital Transformation Development Policy Loan (DPL) last Nov. 25.

World Bank country director for the Philippines Zafer Mustafaouglu, meanwhile, signed on behalf of the lender on Nov. 15, or just three days after the loan was green-lit on Nov. 12.

This euro-denominated loan equivalent to over 676.9 million euros must be fully spent before end-March 2026.

It will be repaid every first day of May and November starting the year 2035 up to 2053.

The loan agreement noted that the prior to the World Bank board’s approval, the Philippine government had to undertake certain actions aimed at improving access to digital connectivity and government service delivery; deepening financial inclusion through enhanced efficiency and safety as well as increased digital financial services use; and boosting digitally-enhanced services growth.

For instance, the loan document cited that to improve access to digital government services, the departments of Budget and Management (DBM) and of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) plus the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) late last year revived the Medium-Term Information and Communication Technology Harmonization Initiative (MITHI) aimed at harmonizing e-government systems across all government agencies, among other connectivity-related initiatives of NEDA and the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

To widen financial inclusion through digital channels, the World Bank pointed to the recent passage into law of Republic Act (RA) 12010 or the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Law, alongside three recent Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) circulars that enhanced consumer protection and transparency of retail electronic fund transfers as well as made the digital payments infrastructure more competitive and efficient.

As for loan’s goal of bolstering the expansion of digitally-backed services, the World Bank said it’s supported by the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) issued by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for the Amended Public Service Act under RA 11659, as well as the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) guidelines for the Internet Transactions Act under RA 11967, which both came out in May of this year.

These two new laws’ IRRs would not only improve e-commerce transactions’ logistics but also increase consumers’ trust, according to the World Bank.

Related Tags

Department of Finance (DOF) ralph recto Digital Transformation World Bank Finance Secretary
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