Illustrative Image (Source: VNA) Hanoi(VNA) - TheAsian Development Bank (ADB) on September 19 announced that it had approved a300 million USD loan to support the Philippine government's effort to expand financialservices across the country, especially among entrepreneurs, small businesses,farmers, workers, and individuals, including women and vulnerable households.
The bank said its Inclusive Finance DevelopmentProgramme aims to help the Philippines develop a resilient and inclusivefinancial sector.
The project will help the government strengthenthe country's institutional and policy environment for expanding financialservices and invest in support networks and infrastructure such as the nationalretail payment system and the new national identification system.
It will also improve the abilities of financial institutions, including ruralbanks, to offer financial products, particularly through the application of newtechnologies, according to the ADB.
ADB Senior Financial Sector Specialist KellyHattel said that public and private sector entities that provide financialservices will benefit from the programme.
Hattel added that businesses, including micro,small, and medium-sized enterprises, and individuals will also benefit as theywill have better access to a wider range of appropriate financial services andstronger protection against economic shocks.
The ADB revealed that in 2017, only 34 percentof Filipino adults had a bank account, compared with 82 percent in Thailand and49 percent in Indonesia.
ThePhilippine economy grew 6.7 percent last year, the fastest among members of theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). However, the country has also rankedamong the highest in income inequality.-VNA
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