The Philippine government signed a loan agreement with the World Bank (WB) to finance various initiatives aimed at accelerating economic recovery, strengthening climate resilience, improving the quality of education, and developing the agriculture and fisheries sectors.
Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno and WB Country Director for the Philippines Ndiamé Diop signed the four loan agreements amounting to $1.14 billion.
Some $276 million will support projects of the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), specifically the Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project (MIADP) and the Philippine Fisheries and Coastal Resiliency (FishCoRe) Project.
The MIADP aims to sustainably increase the agricultural productivity, resiliency, and accessibility to markets and services of organized farmers and fisherfolks in selected ancestral domains and for selected value chains in Mindanao.
Meanwhile, FishCoRe aims to improve fisheries management, enhance the value of fisheries production, and elevate incomes in selected coastal communities.
To improve the quality of education, a $110 million loan agreement was signed for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Teacher Effectiveness and Competencies Enhancement Project (TEACEP).
The TEACEP aims to improve equitable access to quality teaching in Kindergarten to Grade 6 (K-6) in project-supported areas, namely Regions IX (Zamboanga Peninsula), XII (SOCCSKSARGEN) and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Finally, budgetary support amounting to $750 million under the Philippines First Sustainable Recovery Development Policy Loan (DPL) will support the country’s policy reforms aimed at boosting environmental protection and climate resilience.
Diokno meanwhile expressed optimism that the government will exceed its target revenues for this year.
The finance chief, during his weekly press chat, said: “On the fiscal side, I am pleased to report that our revenue collections for the first five months of the year improved to P1.6 trillion, up by P155.6 billion or 10.8% compared to the same period last year.”
DOF data show that revenues from January to May 2023 stood at P1.592 trillion, 10.83% higher than the P1.437 trillion collected last year.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee is expecting government revenues to reach P3.73 trillion for 2023. Broken down, tax collections accounted for the bulk of the state revenues amounting to P1.41 trillion, up 9.71% from P1.3 trillion year-on-year.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) contributed the bulk of tax revenues during the period as it collected P1.054 trillion, up 9.95% from P959 billion collected in the same period last year.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) saw its collections improve by 12.1% to P359.3 billion from P320.5 billion year-on-year.
Meanwhile, non-tax collections, which include the income from the Bureau of the Treasury and privatization proceeds, stood at P178 billion, up 20.56% from P147.7 billion a year earlier.
Diokno attributed the higher revenues during the January to May period to improved tax administration.
“I think they are motivated, they run after fake receipts,” he said, adding that the BIR has an ongoing campaign against fake receipts.
Last week, the BIR filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) a criminal complaint against three companies for alleged tax evasion through the use of fake receipts, with an estimated tax liability of around P18 billion in total, including penalties and interest.