President Marcos has welcomed the offer of Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Kingdom of Netherlands to support inclusive finance and financial health efforts in the Philippines.

The Queen, who also serves as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), said this in a courtesy call on the President in Malacañan Palace on May 22.

During their meeting, Queen Máxima, who last visited the Philippines in 2015, shared insights on improving the country’s financial inclusion and financial health, emphasizing the following points important for the country’s farmers and micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs):

• Enhanced digital connectivity in rural areas with improved prices and quality
• Reassessment of the country’s pricing structure to eliminate merchant surcharges, encouraging high volume and low prices
• Improved tax schemes and payments
• Challenges with the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys)
• Open Finance
• Improved digital infrastructure and digitization
• Cybersecurity
• Interoperable payments
• Helping Filipinos improve their financial health
• Building resilience to economic and climate shocks

She likewise expressed her commitment to providing the Philippines with the guidance to achieve 85 percent financial inclusion and to be classified as an upper-middle-income country. The country reached 56 percent financial inclusion in 2022.

UNSGSA Queen Máxima also offered to help connect the Philippines to her development partners to share best practices, particularly to support efforts to improve connectivity.

In his brief welcome remarks, President Marcos thanked Her Majesty for her offer and for championing the welfare of MSMEs, noting that they comprise 99 percent of the country’s economy.

“Well, that’s a very, very handsome offer. Thank you very much, Your Majesty,” Marcos said.

Marcos added that there were already projects in the pipeline that aim to improve internet connectivity in the Philippines and that the country can address the issue. 

The Queen’s three-day visit to the Philippines started on May 20. She visited Talim Island in the Rizal Province to personally assess the financial inclusion of the fisherfolk community, including smallholder farmers.

She is scheduled to speak with a women’s focus group in Manila on how financial services contribute to financial health and resilience.

The Queen is known for championing financial health as a guiding principle in developing policies and financial products that are attuned to people’s needs.

This is her second travel to the country as the Special Advocate. During her last visit in 2015, she attended the launch of the Philippines’ National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NFSI). 

The NFSI is a government action plan that ensures national coordination in the design, implementation, and monitoring of policies and programs supportive of financial inclusion.