ADB opens $1.5-B lifeline for PH
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday approved $1.5 billion in financing to help the Philippine government cushion the economy from the fallout of the Middle East crisis and bridge its widening fiscal gap.
The Manila-based lender said the financing, under its Assistance for Greater Resilience and Alleviation of Poverty program, would support the government’s Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport, or UPLIFT, program.
The financing comes through the ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility, a crisis-response mechanism designed to help countries across the region weather economic shocks.
The funds will help the government secure fuel supplies, keep electricity and health services affordable, maintain access to food and medicines and support people whose incomes have been threatened by the conflict, the ADB said.
The program will also help bring affected overseas Filipino workers home and provide assistance as they return, the lender added.
“With this financing, we are backing the Philippines’ determination to keep its people secure and its future within its own hands,” said ADB President Masato Kanda.
The bank announced the financing a day after sharply cutting its growth outlook for its host country, which is contending with the fallout from the prolonged Middle East conflict, weak government spending and climate-related shocks.
In its flagship Asian Development Outlook report, the ADB lowered its gross domestic product. growth forecast for the Philippines to 3.3 percent from 3.8 percent previously. At that pace, the economy would trail most of its Southeast Asian neighbors.
The bank expects growth to rebound to 5.1 percent in 2027, although it also lowered that forecast from 5.3 percent previously.
The Philippines is particularly vulnerable to the Middle East crisis because it imports nearly all of its fuel and relies heavily on imported fertilizer, leaving the economy exposed to sharp increases in global prices, the ADB said.
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