MANILA, Philippines — The World Bank is set to approve next week the new country partnership framework (CPF) covering programs it will support in the Philippines in the next six years.
“We are finishing one and we will be approving the new one next week,” Zafer Mustafaoglu, division director for the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei at the World Bank, told reporters on the sidelines of the Innotech Seminar.
He said the indicative amount of support would be made available after the CPF’s approval.
The CPF will cover the areas of collaboration between the multilateral lender and the Philippine government for 2025 until 2031.
In particular, the CPF will focus on human capital, education, health, economic growth and private sector job creation.
The CPF will also cover support for infrastructure development, digitalization and strengthening the macroeconomic framework and business environment.
“We will focus a lot on economic and social resilience, resilience of the communities, people, key infrastructure,” Mustafaoglu said.
Earlier, Gonzalo Varela, lead economist and program leader for the World Bank Prosperity Unit covering the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, said the multilateral lender expects the Philippines to enter the upper-middle income club within the timeframe of the upcoming CPF.
He also said it is more likely for the Philippines to become an upper-middle income economy by next year based on the multilateral lender’s latest economic growth forecasts for the country.
Forecasts released by the World Bank last month showed that it expects the Philippine economy to grow by 5.3 percent this year, down from an earlier forecast of 6.1 percent.
The World Bank also cut its growth forecast for the Philippines for 2026 to 5.4 percent from six percent, previously.
Both forecasts are lower than the government’s annual six to eight percent economic growth target for this year and the next.
