$627M to fund anti-poverty program in 2013

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The government will roll out a $627-million poverty-alleviation program in rural areas by August next year.

Dubbed as the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP), the government will seek a loan of $500 million from the World Bank to fund the initiative.

“The PRDP is an ‘upscale’ Mindanao Rural Development Program [MRDP]. It will be implemented nationwide possibly by August 2013,” said Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala in a news briefing on the Eighth World Bank Implementation Support Mission held in Quezon City on Tuesday.

World Bank lead rural-development specialist Carolina Figueroa-Geron noted that the Philippine government will set aside $120 million as counterpart fund, while a $7-million grant will come from the Global Environment Facility.

The Department of Agriculture is expected to submit a proposal on the initiative to the National Economic and Development Authority’s (Neda) Technical Board soon. The technical board will be tasked to evaluate the proposal.

Once approved, the PRDP will be implemented for six years or until 2019.

Alcala noted that the government decided to expand the MRDP to include not just Central Philippines and some areas in Luzon, but also other rural areas all over the country.

Earlier, DA officials said the government was seeking $300 million from the World Bank to fund a program that would help the government finance infrastructure and other developmental projects in five regions in Luzon and the Visayas.

Source: Business Mirror (link opens in a new window)

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rural development