Third Philippines Development Policy Loan

closed

The Third Philippines Development Policy Loan to Foster More Inclusive Growth objective is to support sustained and inclusive growth and job creation. The means to achieving this objective are through increasing physical and human capital investment; tackling regulatory barriers in land, labor, and capital markets; all in the context of ensuring fiscal sustainability and boosting fiscal governance and transparency. The project consists of five pillars. The first being the implementation of the DPWH public infrastructure program has advanced: (i) contracting out over 80% of the combined 2012 and 2013 capital expenditure budget by January 1, 2014; and (ii) contracting out over 50% of the 2014 capital expenditure by June 30, 2014. DPWH, has delivered contract works under the TRIP network preparation process and resulting plan. The Borrower has issued the 2014 GAA requires: (i) that DPWH implement the Regular FMR Program; and (ii) that DA provides and discloses the network plan for Regular FMR Program projects. The second pillar is that the DTI has improved online functionality of the PBR for national registration, including ePayments. Pillar three is the preparation for NHTS-PR II is advanced: (i) operational manual is revised to reflect lessons learned from the previous assessment; (ii) field workers are being hired and trained using standard training tools; (iii) IT-enabled data collection and encoding is developed and tested; (iv) arrangements for spot checks to monitor reassessment processes are in place. Pillar four the Borrower has adopted a unified Account Code Structure for accounting, budgetary and treasury transactions and implemented this as part of the 2014 budget preparation and implementation. Finally, Pillar five the Borrower has implemented the following revenue related reforms: (i) a tobacco and alcohol excise tax reform; and (ii) the completion and on-line publication of a Tax Expenditure Statement (TES) concerning fiscal incentives for investment.