MANILA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 300 million U.S. dollars loan to support the Philippine government's effort to expand financial services across the country, especially among entrepreneurs, small businesses, farmers, workers, and individuals, including women and vulnerable households, the bank said Wednesday.

The Manila-based bank said the policy-based Inclusive Finance Development Program aims to help the Philippines develop a resilient and inclusive financial sector.

The project will help the government strengthen the country's institutional and policy environment for expanding financial services, invest in support networks and infrastructure such as the national retail payment system and the new national identification system, and improve the abilities of financial institutions, including rural banks, to offer financial products, particularly through the application of new technologies, the ADB said.

As a result, the ADB said more Philippine people are expected to open bank accounts, save more at financial institutions, and have access to a wider range of other financial products and services.

ADB Senior Financial Sector Specialist Kelly Hattel said public and private sector entities that provide financial services will benefit from the program.

Hattel said businesses, including micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, and individuals will also benefit as they will have better access to a wider range of appropriate financial services and stronger protection against economic shocks.

The Philippine economy grew 6.7 percent last year, the fastest among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. However, the Philippines ranks among the highest in income inequality, with a Gini coefficient of 0.44 in 2015.

In 2017, the ADB said only 34 percent of Filipino adults had a bank account, compared with 82 percent in Thailand and 49 percent in Indonesia.

As of last year, the ADB said just 12 percent of Filipino adults borrowed from a formal financial institution in 2017 and 35 percent of cities and municipalities had no banking offices.