Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has positioned the Philippines at the forefront of crisis and disaster response by being the first country to sign the Rapid Response Option (RRO) agreement with the World Bank Group (WBG).
The RRO is part of the WBG’s Expanded Crisis Preparedness and Response Toolkit, which empowers client countries to deploy resources from their existing Bank portfolio more effectively to deliver a swift response when crises occur.
Specifically, it allows countries in the event of an emergency to immediately access up to 10% of undisbursed and uncommitted balances in their portfolio with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or International Development Association (IDA) for response actions.
The flexible resource reallocation will provide the Philippine government with immediate liquidity to rapidly deliver critical services—such as healthcare, shelter, and food—in times of emergency.
The agreement was signed between Secretary Recto and WBG Managing Director Anna Bjerde on April 20, 2024 on the sidelines of the WBG and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C.
Among Philippine government officials who witnessed the signing ceremony were Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Monetary Board Member Rosalia V. De Leon, BSP Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila, Jr., National Treasurer Sharon P. Almanza, and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo.
“I honestly cannot think of a better client and country to sign the first RRO. It fits nicely into the program that we are supporting in the Philippines under your leadership. It is wonderful to see that just in February, we went to the Board with this crisis response toolkit to just in a few months be able to operationalize it with such an important partner and client,” WBG Managing Director Bjerde said.
“We greatly welcome the introduction of the Rapid Response Option, which significantly enhances our capacity to ensure economic security for the Filipino people. Through this, we can safeguard our hard-earned development progress, strengthen our resilience against shocks, and keep our development targets on track,” Secretary Recto said in a message after the signing ceremony.
The RRO is just one of the latest tools developed by the WBG in its Expanded Crisis Preparedness and Response Toolkit.
Other new additions include substantially scaled-up access to pre-arranged financing for emergency response and expanded catastrophe insurance.
