MANILA – Australia is providing an AUD45 million, or approximately PHP2 billion, grant to support local businesses and the growth of priority sectors in the Philippines, including clean energy and the digital economy.
The five-year initiative Promoting Growth, Resilience, Economic Stability and Sustainability in the Philippines (PROGRESS), running from 2026 to 2031, was formally launched in Manila on Tuesday.
“PROGRESS is our new flagship economic growth program in the Philippines, and it represents a milestone in that important relationship that Australia has with our friends,” said visiting Australian Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Matt Thistlethwaite MP, who led the launch together with Finance Secretary Frederick Go.
“It deepens our strategic partnership and supports the Philippines’ prosperity and economic resilience, and of course it complements programs that have already had demonstrable success here,” he added.
Thistlethwaite said the program will support the Philippine economy through targeted reforms to improve the ease of doing business and increase investment and trade.
He said it will fund projects identified by relevant government agencies, which earlier listed as priorities, are renewable energy development, the offshore wind industry, infrastructure development, and carbon market establishment.
“We’re very much in the scoping phase and working with the various Philippine government departments to identify where the priorities are and ensuring that the projects stack up and they make solid economic sense,” Thistlethwaite said in a separate press conference.
Beyond investments, the official said PROGRESS will work to ensure that women, people with disabilities and marginalized groups have an equal opportunity to participate in the growth of the Philippine economy.
“This is a focus of our overseas development program, and we’re working with the Philippine government departments on identifying where those projects would best meet those aims,” he said.
“Over time, I think you’ll start to see projects being announced under this program, and they will generate jobs in larger communities that will be beneficial to the Philippines population,” he added.
Thistlethwaite is in Manila to represent Australia at the Philippine-hosted 58th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meetings and Related Meetings. (PNA)
