Staff Reporter
Karachi
The State Bank of Pakistan has received $1billion ($500 million each from World Bank and Asian Development Bank) on Wednesday to facilitate the country during its fight against coronavirus.
Earlier this month, the ADB had approved a loan worth $500 million to Pakistan to help the country’s coronavirus health and economic response and “protect poor” citizens.
The development comes following a meeting of the ADB’s Board of Directors in Manila. In its statement, the bank said the loan would help the Pakistani government “deliver social protection programs to the poor and vulnerable, expand health sector capabilities, and deliver a pro-poor fiscal stimulus to boost growth and create jobs as the country fights the novel coronavirus disease pandemic”. In this regard, ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa had said, “The Covid-19 pandemic hit Pakistan at a critical point in its ongoing economic recovery program. We are fully committed to supporting Pakistan through this difficult period.
“This loan will help plug selected funding gaps as the government implements its counter cyclical development plan, including strengthening the country’s social safety net and health sector capacity,” it said.
ADB had noted that the coronavirus pandemic was forecast to hamper Pakistan’s economic growth, revenue collection, and employment. The country’s response to the outbreak of the respiratory illness was hindered owing to a low ration of healthcare workers to population and a lack of hospital beds.
The ABD’s CARES programme would aid “various government initiatives, including cash assistance payments to three million daily wage workers, of whom approximately 23% are women, and cash grants to 7.5 million families under the Kifalat social protection program”, the statement added.
“The program will also help fund the acquisition of additional ventilators and Covid-19 protective kits for medical staff, including appropriately sized personal protective equipment for women.
“To prevent job losses, the loan will support young entrepreneurs, including at least 25% women, through the government’s youth entrepreneur scheme, Kamyab Jawan,” it noted further.