India, AIIB sign pact for 750 mn dollars Covid response support

The Indian government and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Friday signed an agreement for $750 million loan for Covid-19 response.

The development comes after the AIIB on Wednesday said that it has approved a $750 million loan to India to assist the government in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the poor.

"Govt of India and @AIIB_Official today signed a $750 million 'COVID-19 Active Response & Expenditure Support Programme' to assist India to strengthen its response to the adverse impacts of the #COVID19Pandemic on poor & vulnerable households," said a tweet by the government's official Twitter handle for updates on coronavirus.

This loan follows $500 million emergency Covid relief financing in May to enable the government to scale up efforts to limit the transmission of cases, strengthen the health system to expand its response capacity and enhance preparedness to manage future outbreaks.

Co-financed by the Asian Development Bank, the budgetary support will go toward bolstering economic aid for businesses, including for the informal sector, expanding social safety nets for the needy, and strengthening the country's health care systems.

The finance would help in strengthening its response to the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on millions of poor and vulnerable households, an AIIB statement had said on Wednesday.

The AIIB's total sovereign loans to India that have already been approved amount to $3.06 billion, including the recent $500 million Covid-19 for emergency response.

The current loan will be the second for India under AIIB's Covid-19 Crisis Recovery Facility (CRF), which was created as part ofthe coordinated international response to counter the pandemic, to support AIIB members' urgent economic, financial, and public health needs and quick recovery from the crisis.