Programme is providing basic health and education to millions of poor families
MANILA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday approved a $400 million loan to help fund the Philippines' flagship anti-poverty programme, which is providing basic health and education to millions of poor families.
In 2010, the bank provided the Philippines with an initial loan to expand its anti-poverty project to cover 4.4 million households at the end of 2015, making it the fourth-largest conditional cash transfer programme after India, Brazil and Mexico.
"The support, which builds on ADB's initial loan to the project of the same amount, will help the government support more families, now also including high school students," said Karin Schelzig, senior social sector specialist at ADB's Southeast Asia department.
Such programmes "are keeping vulnerable young people in school, opening the door to a better future."
ADB is also providing a technical assistance grant of $1 million to provide policy and advisory services.
The additional financing will run for four years until December 2019.
Conditional Cash Transfer schemes like "Pantawid Pamilya" - so named for the conditions imposed to qualify for benefits - have proven effective in breaking vicious cycles of poverty by improving health, education and opportunities.
A quarter of the Philippines' 100 million people live below the poverty line. ($1 = 47.7250 Philippine pesos)
(Reporting By Manuel Mogato; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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