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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Banking & Finance devider Another World Bank loan for DA in the works

Another World Bank loan for DA in the works

Published Jul 4, 2025 01:51 pm
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is set to receive a loan financing from the Washington-based multilateral lender World Bank next year for a project aimed at supporting small agri-businesses.
A June 26 document published on Thursday, July 3, showed that the DA is seeking an investment project financing (IPF) from the World Bank for its Improving MSME Access to Finance for Productivity and Resilience to Climate Shocks (PHL MSME PRIME) project. MSMEs are micro, small and medium enterprises, which account for over 99 percent of businesses and about two-thirds of total employment in the country.
According to the World Bank document, the total project cost will be $873 million, or over ₱49 billion.
In its new six-year country partnership framework (CPF) or lending program for the Philippines, the World Bank had included an indicative $400-million IPF commitment for the MSME Access to Finance for Productivity and Resilience to Climate Shocks Project (PRIME), which it initially listed in the pipeline of loans for the lender’s fiscal year (FY) 2027, which starts in July 2026 and ends in June 2027.
But according to the new World Bank document seen by Manila Bulletin, the IPF for this project is scheduled for board approval on March 26, 2026, falling within FY 2026 that began this month and ending in June next year.
As customary, the Department of Finance (DOF) will borrow on behalf of the Philippine government.
The forthcoming DA project would help “increase access to credit and insurance for agri-MSMEs, farmers, and fisherfolk, towards higher firm productivity and resilience to climate shocks,” the World Bank said.
Specifically, the upcoming project “aims to create a blended finance credit facility to significantly leverage World Bank funds,” the lender said.
“It also focuses on establishing the country’s first agricultural co-insurance pool to enable large-scale private sector agricultural insurance,” the document added.
“Additionally, it addresses critical ecosystem challenges related to agricultural credit and insurance, with a portion dedicated to project management,” according to the World Bank.
The project would assist eligible rural sector MSMEs across the country, as the World Bank estimated about 1.24 million of these enterprises employing 6.35 million Filipinos.
The World Bank noted that only 0.82 percent of MSMEs, or over 10,000 homegrown businesses, operate in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AFF) sector—providing significant room for growth and development in this area.
As Manila Bulletin reported earlier, the Philippines is scheduled to borrow a total of $7.85 billion from the World Bank Group’s (WBG) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) in the next two years under their new CPF, which will support the country’s climb to upper-middle-income country (UMIC) status.
The IBRD is the WBG’s lending arm for developing countries like the Philippines.
The WBG plans to extend to the Philippines between $22 billion and $23 billion in loans and other financing starting mid-2025 until mid-2031, coinciding with the lender’s FYs 2026 to 2031.

Related Tags

World Bank Department of Agriculture (DA) Department of Finance (DOF) World Bank Group (WBG) country partnership framework (CPF) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) upper-middle-income country (UMIC) status
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