15-billion ADB loan to India to fund COVID-19 emergency
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – International Groupings; Health & GS-III – Economy; Disaster Management
In News:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided $15 billion loan to the Government of India to fund its immediate response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
The loan shall be used to deal with health and socio-economic impacts.
Key takeaways:
The loan is approved by the ADB under its COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Programme.
The loan is the bank’s largest loan to India till date.
The money will be spent to implement the containment plan and rapidly increase the test-track-treatment capacity.
It will also be used to provide social protection to poor people over the next three months.
India will also take the ADB’s technical support to strengthen its implementation framework and capacities to implement Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.
Important value additions:
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
It is a regional development bank.
It was established on 19 December 1966.
Headquarters: Mandaluyong, Philippines.
It was established to promote social and economic development in Asia.
Motto: ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient and sustainableAsia & the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
The ADB offers hard loans (currency) on commercial terms primarily to middle income countries in Asia and
It provides soft loans (loan with a below-market rate of interest) to poorer countries in the region.
Both types of loans are sourced from the bank’s ordinary capital resources (OCR).
Five largest borrowing countries are China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
