RP gets $1.2-M grant from WB

The World Bank will extend a $1.2-million grant to bankroll the Philippine government’s effort to upgrade the management of its public expenditures and streamline its public administration.

The grant consists of two parts: $1.09 million to be released through the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and another $291,000 to the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

The grant to DBM comes from the Japanese government’s policy and human resources development grant facility but administered by the World Bank. It was designed "to help government prepare a project that will help the public sector by strengthening the management and poverty focus of public expenditures."

It is further intended "to control the fiscal weight of the wage bill, streamline public administration, and improve monitoring and evaluation capacity."

The CSC-destined grant came from the World Bank’s institutional development fund (IDF) facility. It will help strengthen government capacity "to control the civil service wage bill and employment, and develop policy options to rationalize compensation and employment."

It will likewise finance consultancy services, stakehold consultation, equipment and training over a two-year period.

In a statement, World Bank country director Robert Vance Pulley said that the present constrained fiscal environment makes it important to focus on enhancing the efficiency of public expenditures.

These grants would help government to carry out reforms which would free up much-needed resources for core poverty-reducing investments and maintenance and operating expenditures. Government could then more effectively finance its growth and poverty reduction agenda," Pulley added. – Ted Torres