The Philippines signed a $100-million (P5-billion) loan agreement with the World Bank to strengthen the country’s capacity to prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by the coronavirus disease 2019.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Achim Fock, the bank’s acting country director for Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, signed the loan on the COVID-19 Emergency Response Project.
It followed an earlier agreement on the $500-million Third Disaster Risk Management Development Policy Loan that aims to augment the Philippine government’s urgent financing requirements in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The World Bank has again acted swiftly to help developing economies like the Philippines meet the ever-increasing demand for medical care and health facilities resulting from the coronavirus-induced global health crisis,” Dominguez said.
“We thank the World Bank once again for supporting our efforts to contain the spread of the virus and expand our capacity to prevent and prepare for emerging infectious diseases in the future,” Dominguez said.
Fock said “boosting the [Philippines’] capacity to respond to COVID-19 will save lives.”
“The government has taken quick and decisive action in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the World Bank is proud to support its efforts. Right now, no other investment offers greater return,” Fock said.
The COVID-19 ERP consists of different components, such as strengthening the country’s emergency COVID-19 health care response efforts; strengthening laboratory capacity at the national and sub-national levels to support the prevention of, preparedness against and response to emerging infectious diseases; implementation management and monitoring and evaluation; and contingent emergency response.
The COVID-19 ERP will support the government’s efforts in the procurement of medical and laboratory equipment and reagents; medical supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPEs), medicines and ambulances; and isolation and quarantine facilities. It will be implemented by the Department of Health.
The World Bank said it might also provide proactive assistance in accessing existing supply chains through its Bank-Facilitated Procurement to assist the DOH in implementing the project, “which will be beneficial considering the current disruptions in the usual supply chains for medical consumables and equipment for COVID-19 response,” the DOF said.
