Covid: ADB chief promises India more loan if needed

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 28

The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday announced $ 1.5 billion loan each to India, the Philippines and Indonesia as part of its $ 20-billion package to help Asian economies weather the Covid epidemic.

India has already secured a $ 1 billion commitment from the World Bank to strengthen health services and assist companies and their employees affected by the lockdown.

The loan agreement was signed by Additional Secretary (Fund Bank and ADB) in the Ministry of Finance Sameer Kumar Khare and ADB Country Director Kenichi Yokoyama.

In a telephonic conversation with ADB chief Masatsugu Asakawa earlier this month, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had sought $ 2.2 billion in emergency support from Bank.

Apart from agreeing to Sitharaman’s request, Asakawa promised to provide further assistance to India, if needed. The two spoke around the time Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe the global health and economic challenges emerging out of the pandemic. Japan exerts considerable influence on ADB and the institution’s chief is always from that country.

An official news release here said the loan to India will focus on disease containment and prevention besides social protection, especially for the women and disadvantaged groups. This suggests that part of the loan will be from a $13 billion ADB corpus for “countercyclical expenditure programmes” that has a focus on the poor and the vulnerable. Another part aimed at women and the socially disadvantaged will be from a $ 2 billion ADB package meant for that specific purpose.