The British government has increased its export financing facility for the Philippines to £5 billion pounds and both countries are now finalizing an agreement to enable easier availment of the fund and boost bilateral exports.
British Ambassador to the Philippines Laure Beaufils told reporters during the British Embassy Media Reception on April 23, 2025 that both parties are finalizing a government to government (G2G) agreement via a memorandum of understanding to make it easier for British exporters to tap into that money from the UK Export Finance Agency and “make good use of that £5 billion because for now it’s not been used up in the way that we would like.” The MOU is expected to be completed in three months or longer.
Beaufils explained that the £5 billion, which has been increased from 4 billion pounds last year, can take the form of guarantees. It can also used to support a loan from a bank and in different forms to enable the Philippines to basically buy British products.
One interesting feature in the UK export fund is that it only requires 20 percent British content for an export program to avail of 100 percent funding. “So, you can have a big project with only 20 percent British content that gets full financing from the UK export finance,” she said.
Beaufils further noted that bilateral trade last year went up by 15 percent to 2.8 billion pounds. The planned MOU on export financing is expected to further boost bilateral trade.
Meantime, she said that the British government is also interested in the country’s infrastructure sector, particularly railroads and energy. “We’re likely to have a rail trade delegation sometime soon,” she said.
