On May 8, 2020, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral development bank, has approved a loan worth of $500 million for India’s ‘COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project’ to assist nation’s efforts to stop, detect, and respond to the risk posed by coronavirus (Covid-19).This is the first-ever health sector support from AIIB to India.
Key Points:
i.Co-Financing: Co-financed by the World Bank (WB), the undertaking is part of a $10 billion AIIB’s Covid-19 Crisis Recovery Facility to help public and private sector entities deal with the pandemic.
ii.Benefits:
- The assistance will help India to scale up efforts to restrict the transmission of instances, strengthen the public health system to broaden its response capability and to improve preparedness to handle future outbreaks.
- Apart from this, it will also support medical equipment purchases and research in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), community engagement and risk communication strategies.
iii.Background: Earlier on April 17,2020 the AIIB had enlarged its initial COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility to $10 billion from $5 billion that made funds available to its members for emergency economic, financial and public health pressures and quick recovery from the crisis.
About Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB):
Headquarters– Beijing, China
Membership– 102 approved Members
President– Jin Liqun
Vice President, Investment Operations (South Asia and South East Asia.)– D.J. Pandian.
