The World Bank is eager to support the Philippine government in its bid to digitalize services and modernize the bureaucracy, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said.
“I am very pleased to hear of the World Bank’s willingness to extend support for further digitalizing our revenue agencies and modernizing civil service in line with the President’s goal of rightsizing the bureaucracy,” Diokno said, following his courtesy call meeting with World Bank Group Country Director Ndiame Diop last week.
In a statement, the Department of Finance (DOF) said Diokno and Diop met to discuss further alignment and expansion of cooperation between the Philippines and the World Bank based on the Marcos administration’s socioeconomic priorities.
The administration is implementing a comprehensive eight-point socioeconomic agenda that includes measures to optimize digitalization in improving tax administration and broadening financial inclusion.
Diokno said he aims to digitalize half of all retail payments and onboard 70 percent of the adult population to the formal financial system by 2023.
The World Bank is currently supporting the digitalization of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) through an $88.28 million financing for the Philippine Customs Modernization Program.
The project focuses on transitioning from a largely manual and paper-based organization to a modernized BOC, achieving global standards and full modernization by 2024.
In the meeting, Diokno said the government intends to pursue the civil service modernization project of the Civil Service Commission which will be critical in the efforts to modernize the government and rightsize the bureaucracy.
Diop also noted the continued strong partnership between the World Bank and the Philippines, as evidenced by the bank’s increased support to the country.
As of March 2022, the World Bank is the country’s third largest Official Development Assistance (ODA) partner, with loans and grants amounting to around $6.86 million or 23.38 percent of the country’s total ODA receipts.
Currently, the bank is supporting the implementation of 15 ongoing program and project loans in the areas of transport, rural development, disaster risk reduction and management, social protection, customs modernization and COVID-19 response amounting to $4.96 billion.
Loans in the pipeline under the current administration include various programs and projects on health and nutrition, education, renewable energy, fisheries, transport, tourism, agriculture and further reforms in the finance sector.
The DOF is also looking into tapping available support from the bank for natural disasters, including the recent strong earthquake that affected Northwestern Luzon.
