By CHINO S. LEYCO The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a policy-based loan to help the Philippines strengthen its domestic capital markets and reach the nation’s development goals of high, sustained economic growth and poverty reduction. In a statement, the Manila-based lender said the government will receive a $400 million policy-based loan from the ADB to address key constraints that have limited the growth of local government and corporate bond markets. The support, roughly P20.22 billion, is under the capital market-generated infrastructure financing program of the ABD, which also focuses on building a vibrant domestic institutional investor base that will become a sustainable source of long-tenor infrastructure finance. Likewise, the ADB expects policy-based loan will result in higher support for public infrastructure spending for years to come. The government’s flagship “Build Build Build” (BBB) infrastructure development program targets an increase in public spending on infrastructure towards 7.0 percent of gross domestic product by 2022, up from 5.5 percent in 2018 and an average of 2.8 percent in the last three decades. “Resilient and vibrant capital markets are key to achieving economic development, growth, and poverty reduction as set out in the government’s long term strategy AmBisyon Natin 2040,” said ADB Vice-President Ahmed M. Saeed. “By developing domestic capital markets, funds are generated to support higher levels of long-term investments and sustainable quality job creation. The program approved today will support the Philippine government’s development goals,” he added. The capital markets development program has supported various reforms in recent years, including the launch and implementation of the first government-led, comprehensive domestic bond market development plan.