FILE PHOTO: A picture shows the logo of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) displayed outside its headquarters in Manila. (TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)
By:
PramodKumar
THE Asian Development Bank has tripled the size of its COVID-19 response package for its member nations to $20 billion.
The package expands ADB’s $6.5 billion initial response announced on March 18, adding $13.5 billion in resources to help its developing member countries counter the severe macroeconomic and health impacts caused by the disease, it said in a release.
The $20 billion package includes about $2.5 billion in concessional and grant resources, it added.
“This pandemic threatens to severely set back economic, social and development gains in Asia and the Pacific, reverse progress on poverty reduction, and throw economies into recession,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.
The package will be delivered more quickly, flexibly and forcefully to the governments and the private sector in our developing member countries to help them address the urgent challenges in tackling the pandemic and economic downturn, Asakawa added.
The bank’s new package of $20 billion includes establishment of a COVID-19 Pandemic Response Option under ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility. Grant resources will continue to be deployed quickly for providing medical and personal protective equipment and supplies from expanded procurement sources.
“Some $2 billion from the $20 billion package will be made available for the private sector. Loans and guarantees will be provided to financial institutions to rejuvenate trade and supply chains. Enhanced microfinance loan and guarantee support and a facility to help liquidity-starved small and medium-sized enterprises, including those run by female entrepreneurs, will be implemented alongside direct financing of companies responding to, or impacted by, COVID-19,” the funding agency said.
The response package includes a number of adjustments to policies and business processes that will allow ADB to respond more rapidly and flexibly to the crisis.
These include measures to streamline internal business processes, widen the eligibility and scope of various support facilities, and make the terms and conditions of lending more tailored, it added.
From 31 members at its establishment in 1966, ADB has grown to encompass 68 members—of which 49 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside.
