ADB signed $1.5 billion loan agreement to India to fight COVID-19 pandemic

The Asian Development Bank has approved a USD 1.5 billion (about Rs 11,400 crore) loan to India to help fund its response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, including support for immediate priorities such as disease containment and prevention, as well as social protection for the poor and economically vulnerable sections.

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Key-Points

The loan focuses on immediate priorities including disease containment and prevention, and social protection for the poor and economically vulnerable sections of the society, especially women and disadvantaged groups.

Under this move, response measures to the coronavirus pandemic to implement COVID-19 containment plan to rapidly ramp up test-track-treatment capacity, and social protection for the poor, vulnerable, women, and disadvantaged groups to protect more than 800 million people over the next three months will be done.

ADB’s financial and technical support will contribute to the sound implementation of the government’s far-reaching emergency response programs launched in March 2020.

Earlier, the ADB’s Board of Directors approved the loan to provide budget support to the government to counter and mitigate the adverse health and socio-economic impact of the pandemic.