Manila, Philippines, October 29, 2008
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will continue to invest significantly in infrastructure, agribusiness, and loans to micro, small, and medium enterprises in the Philippines as the world’s poor confront “the triple jeopardy of the food, fuel, and financial crisis,” said Lars Thunell, IFC Executive Vice President and CEO.
The investments affirm IFC’s unwavering support for the Philippines and advance its objective of helping people escape poverty in a sustainable manner, particularly in the frontier region of Mindanao, where some of the country’s poorest and most conflict-ridden provinces are located.
“Through good times and bad, IFC has been working with its long-term partners in the private sector to create jobs and promote economic growth and make a real difference for the poor,” said Thunell, who is visiting the East Asia and Pacific region. “IFC looks at the global financial crisis as an opportunity because it is in a strong capital position to provide countercyclical finance as private markets pull back.”
The global financial crisis will bring about slower economic growth, Thunell said, and could hinder the ability of governments to help poor communities. “There is as much need for a human rescue package as there is for a financial bailout package,” he said.
Thunell said that the per-capita gross domestic product of all other Philippine regions is not even half that of metropolitan Manila. For this reason, IFC is concentrating its resources in areas other than Manila, such as Mindanao. IFC opened a Davao office, the first outside Manila, in 2006.
The primary area of IFC activities in the Philippines has been the power sector, in which IFC has already invested $480 million in the past year. The investments support reforms embodied in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act. Thunell said it is important that the government ensures that entities such as the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market function effectively.
Agribusiness is another key area of IFC’s investment and advisory services. IFC has identified the export of fruits and vegetables, particularly bananas, as its key focus area in the Philippines because of the country’s considerable comparative advantage. High food prices give new urgency to the development of this sector.
IFC is also providing investment and advisory services to promote lending to micro, small, and medium enterprises, to design a credit information corporation, and to introduce an energy efficiency and renewable energy financing program.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008, a 34 percent increase over the previous year. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
