International Finance Corp., the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, invested about $140 million in the Philippines over the past four months, the agency’s new country manager said Wednesday.
IFC’s new country manager Jane Xu told reporters in a news briefing the group agreed to invest $140 million in various projects in the Philippines from August to November this year. She did not identify the projects.
Xu said the investments in the Philippines were not yet close to reaching the exposure limit of the IFC.
“We do have a country exposure limit, but the Philippines is far away from the limit. We have project exposure limit but it’s more like a percentage of total project financing. We don’t really have an absolute number,” Xu said.
“So far, we have committed around $140 million in terms of investment. But normally, in the second half of the year, we see more [investments] because it’s just the cycle of business,” she said.
IFC also expressed support for small businesses by helping establish a comprehensive credit information system and modern, secured transaction system in the country.
“The systems will together improve MSME [micro, small, medium enterprises] access to affordable finance and create a more competitive and sustainable economy,” Xu said.
“IFC is committed to work with its partners to deepen financial inclusion in the country,” she said.
IFC said the improved credit information ecosystem would provide sufficient credit information that would encourage banks to lend to small borrowers with good credit history.
IFC is also promoting policy reforms on secured transactions, which allows banks to accept movable assets like accounts receivables, inventory, equipment and intellectual property, as collateral.
An estimated 99 percent of all registered businesses in the Philippines are considered MSMEs. Together, they employ 70 percent of the country’s workers and produce a third of its gross domestic product.
IFC is assisting the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.’s SME lending program to design a package of non-financial services for its SME clients.
IFC was the anchor investor in RCBC’s $320-million bond issue to support the bank’s efforts to increase financial inclusion by providing SMEs access to financial services.