The Philippines has signed a $600-million loan agreement with the World Bank (WB) for the modernization and industrialization of the agricultural sector, the Department of Finance (DOF) announced&nbsp;in Malaca&ntilde;ang on Monday, July 10.
The new loan agreement, signed last Friday, July 7, is for the scale-up of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), aims to make the agriculture and fisheries sectors more competitive, sustainable, and technologically based.
&ldquo;The Government of the Philippines, through the Department of Finance and the World Bank, signed a US$600-million loan agreement on July 7, 2023, for the Philippine Rural Development Project Scale-Up, which is geared towards transforming agriculture into a modernized and industrialized sector through public infrastructure interventions and strengthening the commodity value chain,&rdquo; Malaca&ntilde;ang said&nbsp;in a joint statement with DOF.
According to the finance department, the project covers 82 provinces across all the regions of the country, with a focus on areas where about half of the Philippines&rsquo; 109.03-million agriculture and fisheries population reside.
It includes rural infrastructure and enterprise subprojects, which are estimated to benefit 450,000 farmers and fisher folk, and generate 42,000 employment opportunities.
As of July 2023, the WB had provided loans and grants to the Philippines totaling $7.94 billion.
The national government will contribute the remaining $218 million toward the project's final cost of $818 million, or estimated P45.01 billion.
&ldquo;In a stakeholder meeting last June 6, 2023, President Ferdinand &ldquo;Bongbong&rdquo; Marcos, Jr. emphasized the need to develop the agriculture sector, not only in terms of production, but also in ensuring the welfare of farmers and fisher folks,&rdquo; said the Palace.
The national government's outstanding debt was P13.911 trillion as of the end of April, according to the most recent data available from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), a rise of P52.24 billion from the previous month.

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PH inks $600-M loan deal with World Bank for agri-sector