The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $1.5 billion in financing for the Philippines to help cushion families and businesses from the economic impact of the Middle East conflict, particularly rising fuel, food and fertilizer costs.

In a Thursday evening statement, the ADB said the financing will support government measures to keep essential public services running, maintain affordable power and health services, and assist households and workers whose incomes are threatened by the conflict.

“Every week this crisis continues to ask more of people who have little left to give,” ADB President Masato Kanda said.

“They have a right to expect that the institutions serving them will meet their struggle with equal resolve. With this financing, we are backing the Philippines’ determination to keep its people secure and its future within its own hands,” he added.

The Manila-based multilateral lender said the funding will help the government secure fuel supplies, keep food and medicines affordable, and support people affected by higher costs and disruptions linked to the conflict. It will also finance assistance for overseas Filipino workers affected by the crisis, including efforts to bring workers home and provide support when they return.

The ADB cited the Philippines’ vulnerability to the broader Middle East conflict, given its heavy reliance on oil and fertilizer imports from the region. It earlier said the country was among the hardest hit by the global energy shock, noting that 1.1 million overseas Filipino workers were deployed to the region in 2025 and sent home around 18 percent of the Philippines’ total $35.6 billion in remittances that year.

The ADB said its financing will support the government’s Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) through the bank’s Assistance for Greater Resilience and Alleviation of Poverty program. The support is being provided under the ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility, the bank’s region-wide crisis financing mechanism.

The approval forms part of the ADB’s broader support for economies affected by the Middle East conflict. The bank said it has previously provided about $500 million to help Southeast Asian economies manage the impact of the crisis.

Kanda met with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in May and offered up to $1.75 billion in additional financing support to help the Philippines cushion the economic impact of the ongoing Middle East conflict.

“The Philippines is ADB’s home, and we see the strain this crisis is placing on Filipino families, workers, and businesses,” Kanda said.

“ADB will act swiftly to support the government to protect vulnerable communities, manage fiscal pressures, and strengthen the economy’s resilience.”

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Frederick Go in July expressed his intent to tap the ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility (CSF) for up to $1.5 billion to provide additional funding for response measures under the Uplift Framework to “better address the ongoing impacts of the Middle East conflict.”

The lender earlier this week cut its growth projections for its host country for both this year and next, citing downside risks stemming from the conflict, as well as the onset of a severe El Niño season toward the end of this year and the beginning of 2027.