The Asian Development Bank (ADB) these days approved a further $500 million loan to bolster the efforts of the govt. of Bangladesh to manage the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the country’s economy and therefore the public health.
“We will work closely with the govt. and development partners to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic on the poor and most vulnerable, notably those affected by job losses in tiny and medium enterprises and therefore the informal sector”, said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.
The support is an element of ADB’s COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Program, which is funded through the COVID-19 pandemic response possibility (CPRO) under ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility.
CPRO was based as a part of ADB’s $20 billion extended support for developing member nations’ to respond within the time of the pandemic, that was declared on 13 April.
The loan is meant to benefit over 15 million vulnerable people in Bangladesh. Around 1.5 million employees, mainly women, in export-oriented industries can receive extended salary support whereas doctors, nurses, and medical workers fighting COVID-19 in government-run hospitals will receive a special reward. The government’s social protection programs for people of old-age and women in distress will be extended to cover all eligible senior citizens and ladies within the 100 poorest local government units within the country.
At least 2 million poor households across the country are given about $23 each, whereas concerning 1 million poor and vulnerable families will receive food aid of 20 kilograms per month throughout the pandemic emergency period. Affected industries and sectors, as well as micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, are eligible for loans with subsidized interest.
Implementation of ADB’s COVID-19 response is supported through a $1 million technical help grant to help the govt. improve its institutional capacity, and introduce new tools for service delivery, develop a gender-responsive plan to improve the social safety internet, and improve observation and evaluation capability. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is attending to provide $250 million in cofinancing with ADB to support the government’s program.
Previously on 30 April, ADB signed a $100 million concessional loan to support the govt. of Bangladesh in its efforts to address the immediate public health needs of combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. ADB also released a $350,000 emergency grant for the procurement of medical provides and instrumentation and $1.3 million from an existing project to provide one-time money support to 22,619 trainees to enable them to continue their ongoing skills educational program.
