In an effort to help India in fighting coronavirus pandemic, the Asian Development Bank has said it has approved USD 1.5 billion (about Rs 11,400 crore) loan to India.
The bank sanctioned the loan, keeping in view to support immediate priorities such as disease containment and prevention as well as social protection for the poor and economically vulnerable sections.
It is fully committed to supporting the Indian government in its response to this unprecedented challenge, said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.
“The quick-disbursing fund is part of a larger package of support that ADB will provide in close coordination with the government and other development partners.”
“We are determined to support India’s COVID-19 response programs and ensure that they provide effective support to the people of India, especially the poor and vulnerable,” Asakawa said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry said the loan agreement has been signed. The signatories to the loan agreement were Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs and Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director, ADB, in India.
The CARES Programme is provided as the first support to meet the immediate requirements of the government.
The Manila-headquartered multilateral agency said its COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Program will contribute directly to the improvement of access to health facilities and care, as well as social protection for more than 800 million people, including families below the poverty line, farmers, health care workers, women, senior citizens, people with disabilities, low wage earners, and construction workers.
The CARES Program is funded through the COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) under ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility.CPRO was established as part of ADB’s USD 20 billion expanded assistance for developing member countries’ COVID-19 response, which was announced on April 13.
As per the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the CARES Program will be provided with a USD 2 million technical assistance grant to support the government to strengthen its operational framework and efficient targeting, delivery, and monitoring and evaluation of its pro-poor economic package, as well as its health sector and social protection interventions.
“India has taken proactive and decisive measures to contain COVID-19 to protect lives, including the implementation of social distancing, community quarantine, and testing and tracking,” it said.
The government’s COVID-19 response program includes a USD 2 billion health sector project to rapidly ramp up test-track-treatment capacity and a USD 23 billion pro-poor relief package, which will provide additional social protection measures targeting the poor, women, vulnerable population, and disadvantaged groups, the bank noted.
The Asian Development Bank had started the ‘CARES Programme’ to provide immediate requirements to governments in the face of this global crisis.
Apart from the loan, ADB is also constantly consulting the government on further assistance to provide a stimulus for economic growth.
This includes support for affected industries and entrepreneurs, particularly micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) by facilitating their access to finance through credit guarantee schemes, MSME integration into global and national value chains through enterprise development centres and a credit enhancement facility for infrastructure projects.
