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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Banking & Finance devider $825-million World Bank loans for Philippines up for approval soon

$825-million World Bank loans for Philippines up for approval soon

Published Nov 17, 2025 12:00 am  |  Updated Nov 15, 2025 02:14 pm
Two new World Bank loans for the Philippines worth a combined $824.5 million, or over ₱48 billion, will be approved before year-end and early next year, supporting government initiatives aimed at fostering economic growth as well as sustainable agriculture.
In a Nov. 12 program information document (PID), the World Bank said the $800-million Philippines Growth and Jobs development policy loan (DPL) is scheduled for approval by its Washington-based board on Dec. 22, 2025.
This development policy financing (DPF) “aims to support the government of the Philippines strengthen fiscal management, enhance opportunities for private investment and innovation, and build labor force capabilities,” the multilateral lender said.
In particular, the forthcoming loan targets raising tax revenues-to-gross domestic product (GDP), expanding the share of local government units (LGUs) with updated property valuations, generating fiscal savings, deepening capital markets by increasing shares traded and shortening firm registration times, and strengthening human capital through faster enterprise-based education and training (EBET) graduate growth and improved student literacy.
The financing also aims to increase the number of child development workers without formal education who obtain National Certificate III qualifications, especially newly certified women.
This program will be jointly implemented by the following agencies: the Department of Finance (DOF), the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Department of Education (DepEd), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Board of Investments (BOI), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council, the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB), the National Innovation Council (NIC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the World Bank said.
According to the World Bank, the overall risk for this new program it is looking to finance is “moderate.”
“Most risk categories—political and governance, macroeconomic, sector strategies and policies, technical design, fiduciary, environmental and social, and stakeholder engagement—are rated as moderate. Political and governance risks are mitigated by broad-based support for the reform agenda, including legislative backing for key laws. Macroeconomic risks are contained by the Philippines’ robust growth outlook, credible monetary policy, and a medium-term fiscal consolidation plan,” according to the World Bank.
Meanwhile, a Nov. 11 appraisal document showed that the World Bank board would greenlight the $24.5-million investment project financing (IPF) for the Technical Assistance for Sustainable Agricultural Transformation in the Philippines (TASAT) on Feb. 5, 2026.
This project, to be implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA), would “strengthen institutional capacity and delivery systems for repurposing the fertilizer subsidy program, diversification, climate resilience, and increased agricultural exports.”
Specifically, the DA project will support the repurposing of rice fertilizer subsidies to improve efficiency and resilience; initiatives that promote crop diversification, high-value crop intensification, and agrifood exports; and efforts to bolster the agency’s institutional capacity for the Agrifood Transformation agenda.
As customary, the DOF will borrow for these upcoming projects on behalf of the Philippine government.
As Manila Bulletin reported earlier, the World Bank Group (WBG) will extend to the Philippines between $22 billion and $23 billion in loans and other financing from mid-2025 to mid-2031 under the lender’s newest six-year country partnership framework (CPF) or lending program.
According to the World Bank’s fiscal year (FY) 2025 annual report published in October, the Philippines ranked seventh overall in borrowings from the WBG during the FY covering July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, with total loans of $2.855 billion.
Among clients of the IBRD, the Philippines’ total loans in FY 2025 were exceeded only by Brazil’s $3.856 billion in commitments, Türkiye’s $3.791 billion, Argentina’s $3.73 billion, and war-torn Ukraine’s $3.142 billion.
If borrowers from the WBG’s International Development Association (IDA), which lends to underdeveloped nations, are included, the total loans obtained by the Philippines in FY 2025 were also surpassed by Nigeria’s $3.145 billion and Bangladesh’s $3.049 billion.
In the previous FY 2024, the Philippines was the fifth-biggest borrower among IBRD clients, with a total of $2.35 billion in concessional loans obtained from July 2023 to June 2024.
The country was also the seventh-largest overall WBG borrower in FY 2024, just behind Ukraine, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Türkiye, Indonesia, and India.
In FY 2023, covering the period July 2022 to June 2023, which coincided with the first full year of the Marcos Jr. administration, the Philippines borrowed $2.336 billion from the WBG.
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