WB loan to Philippine bank

WB loan to Philippine bank

MANILA (AFP): The World Bank has granted a US$150 million loan to the state-run Land Bank of the Philippines for relending to small- and medium-scale businessmen, an official said yesterday.

Land Bank president Jesli Lapus said the Countryside Loan Fund was the second given to the country since the first loan in 1991 of 5.7 billion pesos ($219 million).

Lapus said the loan was granted under the World Bank's expanded single currency loan program, which allows the borrower to receive the money and pay interests in one monetary denomination.

Small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs can borrow from this fund either in pesos on in foreign currencies.

The granting of the second loan is based on the successful implementation of the first fund, which was utilized ahead of schedule, Lapus said.