WBG to lend PH over 1.2 trillion

The World Bank Group (WBG) will extend to the Philippines between $22 billion and $23 billion—or as much as over P1.2 trillion—in loan and other financing starting mid-2025 until 2031 to support both public and private initiatives aligned with the country's climb to upper-middle-income country (UMIC) status.

- By BEN ARNOLD DE VERA

According to the country partnership framework (CPF) for the Philippines covering the period July 2025 to June 2031—coinciding with the Washington-based multilateral lender's fiscal years 2026 to 2031—the new six-year lending program would allow the WBG "to provide continued support for the government's implementation of the current PDP," referring to the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, which serves as the socioeconomic blueprint of the Marcos Jr. administration.

In particular, during FYs 2026 to 2031, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which is the WBG's lending arm for developing countries like the Philippines, will lend about $18 billion, or $3 billion per year, according to the document seen by Manila Bulletin.

The WBG noted that its IBRD portfolio in the Philippines has ballooned from only $377.6 million in new annual commitments during FY 2018 to $2.85 billion in the current FY 2025, ending next month. The average financing size per lending operation, or the usual amount of a loan, likewise more than doubled—from $189 million to as much as $458 million this year.

Under IBRD financing, "successful investment projects will be scaled up through additional financing or follow-on operations."