WB president: CCT to aid poor in 'uncertain times'

The Philippines’ conditional cash transfer (CCT) program gives the poor a safety net in these “globally uncertain and risky times," the World Bank (WB) Group president told the local media Thursday. “The world learned the hard way during the East Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998 that the cost of turmoil hits the poor the hardest. They have no cushion," WB president Robert Zoellick said in a media conference on the second day of his Philippine visit. “So in these globally uncertain and risky times," he explained, “the relatively new conditional cash transfer program here in the Philippines offers a vital safety net to the most vulnerable people." Zoellick noted that the CCT, which gives the poor financial assistance in exchange for sending their children to school and for medical check-ups, cushions the impact of financial problems on some 2.2 million Filipino families. He hailed the government plan to expand the program’s coverage to more than 4 million families. “It shows that good governance matters to help ensure that the right people get the right benefit at the right time, in the right way," he said. “President Aquino has said that good governance is good economics. I think that good governance is vital if the Philippines and other countries want to step on the pedal and accelerate growth to benefit all," the WB president added. In his visit to President Benigno Aquino III also on Thursday, Zoellick assured that a new financing agreement with the WB will provide the Philippines with $500 million in emergency loans. The WB president is in Manila to get a first hand experience of the Aquino administration’s CCT program and government reforms. — With Paterno Esmaquel II/VS, GMA News