L. Joseph
Phone:  (202) 473-7700
Fax:  (202) 974-4384
E-Mail:  ljoseph@ifc.org


MANILA, PHILIPPINES, February 16, 2001 - As part of a seven nation trip to East Asia, IFC Executive Vice President Peter Woicke will be in the Philippines from February 18—20, 2001, visiting Cebu and Manila.

In Cebu, Mr. Woicke will visit the manufacturing facilities of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in furniture export.  IFC is looking to support these SMEs through Avalon Professional Web Trade (APW), a Singapore-based trading company that sources purchase orders for home furnishings from international buyers and subcontracts production to SMEs that form part of its network in Cebu.  APW is unique in that it makes available uncollateralized working capital finance and uses the internet to provide marketing, logistics, and production planning services to SMEs.

In Manila, Mr. Woicke will meet with key representatives of the government and private sector to get a better understanding of priorities and issues affecting private sector development.  He will also announce IFC’s first investment in a microfinance institution in the country, Micro Enterprise Bank of the Philippines (MEP), based in Davao on the island of Mindanao, an underdeveloped region of the Philippines.  MEP is being set up in partnership with Planters Development Bank, Internationale Projekt Consult of Germany and Dutch institutions IMI (International Mikro Investitionen), FMO (Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij Voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.), and the Doen Foundation.  Preparatory studies, prior to our investment in MEP, were financed by IFC’s donor funded technical assistance program.

IFC has a total portfolio of US$675 million in the Philippines, representing the Corporation’s eleventh largest country exposure worldwide.  IFC has been active in the Philippines since 1963 and in the last three years (FY1998-2000) has approved investments of $280 million in 14 projects.  These investments have been sharply focused on IFC’s developmental objectives and include Planters Development Bank, a thrift bank focused on the SME sector; Asian Hospital, IFC’s first healthcare project in the country; and Manila North Tollways Corporation, a major infrastructure project that involves the expansion, rehabilitation, operations, and maintenance of the North Luzon Expressway, the major roadway to Central and Northern Luzon.  IFC has also mobilized over $600,000 of donor funded technical assistance grants that have financed studies on opportunities for private sector investors in health care, banking, mining, and on the potential for cooperative financing of rural electric utilities.

IFC and the World Bank are working on a national corporate governance action program in the Philippines aimed at improving governance in the corporate, banking, and securities markets sectors.  An Institute of Corporate Directors has been set up in Manila to train directors in good corporate governance.  Several countries in the region will eventually be linked to the Institute through distance learning facilities.

To brief members of the press, Mr. Woicke will hold a press conference at 6.15 p.m. on Monday, February 19, 2001 at the offices of Planters Development Bank, 3rd Floor, 314 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Makati.  Please call IFC Manila for details (phone: 632-848-7333).

The mission of IFC, part of the World Bank Group, is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries as a way to reduce poverty and improve people's lives.  IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses.