The Program objective is to support the Republic of the Philippines’ inclusive economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic through: (i) leveraging the national identity system to expand financial inclusion; (ii) expanding the digital payment ecosystem; (iii) increasing the capacity of financial service providers through digital transformation; and (iv) reducing inequalities in women’s access to finance and promoting women’s economic empowerment.
The proposed Program will provide a policy-based loan under the COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility of the Bank and will be co-financed with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the lead financier.
The Program focuses on the following reform areas: (1) strengthening the institutional and policy environment for financial inclusion; (2) strengthening the financial inclusion infrastructure; and (3) increasing the capacity of financial service providers.
The Program will be co-financed with ADB as the lead co-financier, and the Program’s Environmental and Social (E&S) risks and impacts have been assessed in accordance with ADB’s Safeguard Policy Statement (SPS) applicable to this Policy-based Loan (PBL). AIIB’s Environmental and Social Policy (ESP) was designed to apply to investment projects and has no provisions for its application to PBL operations. Therefore, as permitted by the decision of the Board of Directors set forth in the Decisions to Support the Facility, AIIB will apply the provisions of ADB’s SPS to this PBL in lieu of the ESP. This will provide for a harmonized approach to addressing the E&S risks and impacts of the Program.
Based on the E&S assessments carried out according to the SPS requirements, no adverse impacts have been identified concerning involuntary resettlement, indigenous peoples or the environment. Therefore, ADB has categorized the Program as Category C for involuntary resettlement, indigenous peoples, and environment.
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
Anne Ong Lopez
Investment Operations Specialist – Transport
Asian Development Bank
Kelly Hattel
Senior Financial Sector Specialist
Home What We Do Project List Philippines – Inclusive Finance Development Program (Subprogram 3)
