COVID-19: ADB triples financial aid for members to $20 billion

New Delhi: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday said it has tripled the size of its COVID-19 response package for its member nations to $ 20 billion.

The multilateral funding agency said it has also approved measures to streamline its operations for quicker and more flexible delivery of assistance.

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 COVID-19, 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.