President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has lauded the World Bank for realigning its programs, particularly with its partnership with the Philippines, to address emerging challenges in the post-pandemic era.

This was after Marcos’ bilateral engagement with World Bank Group president Ajay Banga on the sidelines of his participation in the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits and Related Summits in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday.

“I have to commend the World Bank because now I’m looking at the list of the programs and projects in the pipeline. And there you can see the very desirable shift from what we were doing before to what we are doing now, post-pandemic,” he told Banga.

Marcos was thankful that the Philippines has been a recipient of the World Bank’s various grants for many decades, citing the recently granted Philippine Second Financial Sector Reform Development Policy financing worth USD600 million.

He expressed hope that the program would be a success to boost the resiliency and the sustainability of the financial sector after the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

The President also mentioned several development programs with World Bank, such as the Philippine Fisheries and Coastal Resiliency Project, Mindanao Inclusive Agricultural Development Project, and the Philippine Rural Development Program.

The programs, he said, support the country’s bid for food supply sufficiency and rural development.

“The development programs that the World Bank is bringing to Mindanao, especially at the fundamental basic level in terms of inclusive agriculture development project, are going to help in the peace process and to normalize the lives of those who were previously part of the secessionist movement of the south,” Marcos said.

He also cited the Teacher Effectiveness and Competencies Enhancement Project, which would help the government in recalibrating the implementation of the K-12 program.

Banga, meanwhile, assured Marcos of the World Bank’s commitment to fortifying its partnership with the Philippines and exploring other focused areas for intervention in the coming years.

“We are trying to not only do things with poverty and poverty alleviation but actually move towards all the other things that have intertwined as challenges whether they be poverty, health care or, of course, be the efforts on human capital, on education, and health and infrastructure and in electronic digital infrastructure,” he said.

Over the past 10 years, World Bank’s support to the Philippines has focused on enhancing inclusive growth through reforms to speed up job creation; social protection, such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program; rural development; disaster-risk reduction; resilience and peace building; and development of human capital through expanded support for the health and education sectors. (PNA)

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