Philippines borrowing $7.85 billion from World 

The Philippines is scheduled to borrow a total of $7.85 billion from the Washington-based World Bank in the next two years under their new six-year lending program aimed at supporting the climb to upper-middle-income country (UMIC) status, according to a report by Manila Bulletin.

The country partnership framework (CPF) covering the World Bank's fiscal years (FYs) 2026 to 2031 showed that in FY 2026, which begins in July this year and ends in June next year, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has committed to approve the following financing totaling $3.95 billion: $700-million Philippines Community Resilience Project (PAGKILOS); $600-million Project for Learning Upgrade Support and Decentralization (PLUS-D); $250-million Accelerated Water and Sanitation Project in Selected Areas (AWSPSA); $800-million Philippines Second Energy Transition and Climate Resilience development policy loan (DPL); $300-million Skills Employment Project; $500-million Social Protection for Early Intervention, Economic Inclusion and Digital Innovation (BENFIRST 2 or New Social Protection Project); and $800-million Growth and Jobs DPL Series 1.

For the next FY 2027, part of the $3.9-billion lending pipeline for the year are the following: $300-million Philippines Health System Resilience Project Phase 2; $400-million Philippines Government Modernization (ROTUNDA) Project; $300-million Philippine Waste and Plastic Pollution Reduction and Management Project (Clean PH MPA); $800-million Growth DPL Series 2; $400-million MSME Access to Finance for Productivity and Resilience to Climate Shocks Project (PRIME); $500-million Philippines Multisectoral Nutrition Project Additional Financing or New Project; $400-million SME COMPETE (SME Productivity, Value Chain, and Markets); and another yet-to-be-finalized $800-million DPL.

The IBRD is the World Bank Group's (WBG) lending arm for developing countries like the Philippines.

As Manila Bulletin reported earlier, the WBG plans to extend to the Philippines between $22 billion and $23 billion—or as much as over %u20B11.2 trillion—in loans and other financing starting mid-2025 until mid-2031, including $18 billion from the IBRD.

For the remainder of the current FY 2025 ending next month, the World Bank still has four Philippine loans to greenlight: the $4-million Roads to Development for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), scheduled for board approval on June 16; the biggest-ever single loan amounting to $1 billion for the Department of Agriculture's (DA) Philippines Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Program on June 24; as well as the $240.6-million Accelerated Water and Sanitation Project in Selected Areas to be jointly implemented by the departments of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), scheduled on June 27.

The first two loans scheduled for approval in FY 2026 include the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) PAGKILOS on July 28, 2025, and the Department of Education's (DepEd) PLUS-D on Sept. 26 this year.

When the World Bank board approved the newest six-year indicative financing for the Philippines last May 22, its executive directors "supported the CPF's emphasis on improving human capital outcomes through better service delivery and enhanced education and health systems," the chair's summary read, adding that "they encouraged continued efforts to address child stunting and learning poverty" in the country.

Back in 2021, the World Bank reported that the Philippines was suffering from a "silent pandemic"—childhood stunting resulting from undernutrition. Stunted children are smaller in height compared to healthier same-aged kids.

The World Bank was also the first to spotlight concerns about learning poverty in the Philippines, citing in a landmark 2021 report that nine out of every 10 pupils aged 10 could neither read nor understand a simple text.

The chair's summary added that the board of executive directors commended the WBG's focus on job creation and resilience building, while urging continued support for infrastructure, digitalization, renewable energy (RE), small and medium enterprise (SME) development, governance reforms, and public sector capacity—especially at the local level—in the CPF.

Also, "directors noted that the Philippines program is well positioned to implement the full mutual reliance framework with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and appreciated the bank's efforts to collaborate with development partners," it added.