The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on Wednesday approved $250 million loan to Pakistan to help the country deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a statement released by AIIB, the project will be co-financed by the World Bank and will bolster a Pakistan government program to strengthen health infrastructure, social safety nets, investment in human capital and economic growth.
“The pandemic has rapidly evolved in Pakistan and now threatens to undo many of the hard-won gains made in reducing poverty over the past two decades,” AIIB Vice President of Investment Operations Konstantin Limitovskiy said
The AIIB has previously approved a loan of $500 million for Pakistan’s response to COVID-19.
Earlier in May, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved $300 million emergency assistance loan to strengthen Pakistan’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant detrimental impact on the health and economic prospects of the people of Pakistan,” said ADB Vice-President Shixin Chen in a statement.
To protect the poor, ADB also announced to provide cash assistance to directly benefit the women of poor households through the government’s Ehsaas Emergency Cash Assistance Package, launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
