Promoting Competitiveness and Enhancing Resilience to Natural Disasters Sub-program 2 Development Policy Loan

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The development objective of the Promoting Competitiveness and Enhancing Resilience to Natural Disasters Sub-Program 2 Development Policy Loan in Philippines supports: i) promoting competitiveness and ii) enhancing resilience. The policy actions supported by the operation are critical to a smooth and inclusive recovery through the implementation of reforms in the areas of competitiveness and resilience to shocks. The policy matrix is streamlined from three to two pillars to emphasize the central role of competitiveness and resilience to shocks in the recovery phase, and the reform actions are updated to support more directly the economic recovery. Pillar 1 on promoting competitiveness supports the government by: a) lowering the entry barrier into the digital service provision market; b) operationalizing the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) to implement the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act; c) shifting to digital transactions for customs processes for trade facilitation; and d) operationalizing support to affected rice farmers with the implementation of the rice liberalization law. Pillar 2 efforts in enhancing resilience to shocks by: a) creating fiscal space through increases of excise taxes; b) implementing the National ID program for financial inclusion and social program delivery; c) operationalizing the National Payment System to facilitate digital payments; and d) increasing financial resilience to natural disasters and climate change through pre-arranging funding for disaster response and improving management of public assets against natural disasters.