MANILA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines and the World Bank signed on Thursday an additional 300 million U.S. dollars to finance the government's poverty-reduction program.
According to the Philippine Department of Finance (DOF), the loan agreement, which the Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and World Bank Country Director Mara Warwick signed, aims to further strengthen the government's conditional cash transfer (CCT) program until 2022 by continuing to support the delivery of CCTs to millions of beneficiaries.
CCT program, also known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), is a human development measure of the Philippine national government that provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor, to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of children.
Dominguez said the loan agreement will provide an additional 300 million U.S. dollars financing for the CCT program under the second phase of the government's Social Welfare Development and Reform Program.
The administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte aims to reduce poverty incidence to 14 percent by 2022, from 21.0 per cent in the first half of 2018.
It will also help boost early childhood development and fight malnutrition among 8.7 million children from some 4.2 million families currently benefitting from the CCT program, he added.
The DOF said the World Bank has contributed a total of 1.26 billion U.S. dollars to the Philippines' CCT program since 2010.
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