Philippines eyes $1.5 billion ADB financing for ME crisis response

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June 23, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The government is seeking up to $1.5 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support state programs aiming to cushion the economic shock from the Middle East crisis, Finance Secretary Frederick Go said.

The Marcos administration is seeking to tap the ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility – support for member countries facing shocks – to bankroll its Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport (UPLIFT) framework.

“We have expressed our intent to tap the ADB’s countercyclical support facility in the amount of up to $1.5 billion to provide additional funding to support the response measures under the UPLIFT framework in order to better respond to the ongoing impacts of the Middle East conflict,” Go told reporters in a roundtable.

The UPLIFT is a whole-of-government plan to mitigate the US-Iran war impact on the economy and safeguard the welfare of Filipinos, which the DBM earlier said would require at least P155 billion to fund its programs and projects.

“This includes assistance to vulnerable sectors in order to mitigate the impact of oil supply and other shocks,” Go added.

Last month, ADB announced that it received a formal request for financing from 15 affected governments across the region, including the Philippines.

With this, the multilateral said it is deploying $4 billion in financing to help countries withstand the impact of the war, which includes a $3-billion request by governments and $1 billion in trade finance for energy and food imports.

In May, ADB president Masato Kanda offered President Marcos up to $1.75 billion in additional financing to help the Philippines cushion the conflict. This support will be through additional policy-based and countercyclical lending, as well as trade finance if needed.

The amount is also on top of around $2 billion in policy-based loans being prepared by the ADB for the Philippines this year.